


New Boy

by authentic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Ballet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2019-10-24 21:32:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17711954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/authentic/pseuds/authentic
Summary: Lance is a very talented ballet dancer, however, he's struggling to keep up with all the demands of both dance and school. Keith is the school's new boy; quiet, mysterious, and very very cute. Hunk and Pidge, Lance's best friends, immediately notice Lance's hyperfocus on the new boy and make it their goal to get Keith to notice him and, hopefully, attend Lance's next performance. What they don't realize is just how easy it is going to be to get Keith to notice the tall, tan, and very very flexible boy in nearly all his classes...





	1. Chapter 1

Lance sighed as he walked through the door to his studio, clasping his hands and stretching his arms high over his head until hearing a satisfying pop in his spine. The studio was actually _freezing_ today, and looking around you could easily tell. Everyone had leg warmers over their tights and jackets zipped to their throats as they rolled through their feet and ankles, desperately trying to warm a few joints before their instructor came in to begin class. Which happened only a few seconds after Lance himself walked through the door.

“Alright!” The ever-chipper man called out, “Find a spot at the barre, and we’ll begin with Plié. Same one we did last week.”

And with that, class had begun. Every person in the room beautifully in unison as they moved their arms and heads in time with the bending of their knees, the only disturbance to the peace being the loud popping sounding around the room as still cold joints desperately attempted to keep up with the exercise. They moved on to tendu, and made it through dégagé before people were peeling off their jackets, sweat beginning to shine on many faces. Half an hour later and they were given a small amount of time to stretch their now warm bodies. This was one of Lance’s favorite times of class, a lot of this being simply because, as long as they kept stretching, they were allowed to talk to one another.

Others in the class left the barre to stretch on the ground, while he turned to face it, placing his right leg up on top and settling in before stretching over and enjoying the slight pull in his side as he bent down past his raised leg. Seconds later Nyma came over to join him. He stood upright and smiled before stretching the other way, not really paying attention as Nyma settled into a similar rhythm.

“How’d your math test go today Lance? Were you able to figure out your review after class last night?”

He smiled and let his leg slide along the barre until his standing leg was nearly vertical with the ground, gravity pulling at his hips as he held onto the lower barre with his hands. “Yeah actually! My friend Pidge, the small gremlin one, was able to come over and help me even though it was so late. I actually am excited to get our scores back for once! What about you, you had an English presentation today right?” He pulled himself back upright and switched legs to repeat the process with his left.

Nyma had turned and now stretched her leg behind her on the barre in arabesque, arching backward over it. “Yeah.” She replied, “It didn’t go great, but it wasn’t horrible either.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence and Lance finished stretching his left leg before laying on the floor below the barre, legs up and butt to the wall. Then, he let gravity do the work for him and simply let his legs fall open until they nearly lay on the floor, straight out to his sides. Nyma grimaced as she slid into her left splits and lay over the forward leg.

“I still don’t get how you can do that so easily. It isn’t natural.”

“Nyma, you know this isn’t even the extent of my flexibility.”

She arched backward, lifting the back leg and grabbing it, pulling it to her head. “Yes, I’m fully aware. It makes me and everyone else in the class very jealous, but it also makes Coran very happy.”

Lance flipped himself to his stomach and arched his back, bringing his feet over to touch the floor near his head, then rolled to a standing position. Nyma groaned, and across the room, the cheery instructor, Coran, smiled.

Three and a half hours later 15 sweaty, panting dancers left the room. A few minutes later though, Lance walked back in, now wearing his black pointe shoes. Today was a Tuesday, one of three days a week he was able to get a private lesson from Coran, and he wasn’t going to waste a single second of it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Higher Lance! Quiet landings! Good good! Now! Yes! Finish strong! Brisé Volé! Tombe, Pas de bourrée, Entrechat, double and Fouetté! Fouetté! Fouetté! Fouetté! Keep going!”

Lance whipped around and around, dripping sweat, breathing hard, hair everywhere as he carefully kept his spot, then landed gracefully after 20 rotations. The music finished and he nearly collapsed in exhaustion. He’d been tired at the end of class, and it was now three hours later and he was just finishing his private. Coran stood up from his chair and smiled.

“You’re doing beautifully Lance. I’ve loved watching you grow.” He glanced at the clock behind him. “10:30 on the dot! Make sure you cool down before you leave, dear boy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lance bowed to him, breathing out a faint “thank you, sir” before settling down to once again stretch his muscles until they cooled off as Coran worked on some paperwork in the front office.

At 10:40 he slipped out of the classroom, slipped off his pointe shoes and slid on his boots. He popped his dance shoes into his bag and pulled back on his warm jacket before picking up his bag, walking out the door, and waving goodbye to Coran.

By the time he got home, it was nearly 11 and he had yet to start his homework. He quickly took a shower, making sure to clean his face properly and moisturize when he got out, then pulled on his pjs and went downstairs to make a cup of coffee and dump his homework on the counter.

By the time he finally finished it was nearly 3 in the morning and collapsed into bed, dreading waking up for school on only three and a half short hours. He really did love ballet, but sometimes he wasn’t sure whether it or school would finish him off first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I'll do my best to keep updates regular with my busy schedule! Also! If you have any questions regarding any ballet terms please do let me know and I'd be happy to explain! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our boys meet.

Lance awoke the next morning to a pressure on his ribs and shut his eyes tighter before peeling them open to the sight of his 8-year-old sister grinning at him.

“Lance! Mom sent me up to tell you to get your butt out of bed and come eat the breakfast she lovingly made you.” She giggled and dug her knees into his chest and he groaned. 

“Tell her I’ll be down in a minute, I just need to get dressed first.” and with that she jumped up and ran out of the room, pulling his door shut behind her. He would never understand how that girl had so much energy at 6:30 in the morning. 

He stands up and stretches until he hears the ever-satisfying pop of his back, then stumbles into the bathroom to wash his face. After which he stumbles back to his room and pulls on his favorite pair of ripped jeans, a striped long sleeve shirt, his blue vans, and a beanie - simply so he doesn’t have to do his hair. 

“Morning Mama.” He says as he walks into the kitchen and kisses her on the cheek.

“Good morning Lance.” She says as she flips a fresh omelet onto a plate and hands it to him. “How late were you up last night? You look exhausted.”

He takes the plate and sits down at the counter, accepting a cup of coffee his older brother hands to him. “Pretty late. I think I went to bed around three.”

His mom gives him a small smile and then asks the question he’s been asking himself, “Lance, baby, I know you really want to get back into the other styles, but you’re already at the studio every day. Do you really think you’ll have the energy to pick up the three new classes next week for jazz, lyrical, and tap? I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine mom. I promise. And its four classes, two on Mondays and two on Thursdays. I’m doing hip-hop as well. And these classes aren’t as long as ballet ones, it’s only like three more hours each day.”

She looks at him a moment before simply accepting, she knows how much dance means to him and would never make him quit doing what he loved. He shovels down his omelet then runs upstairs to brush his teeth and grab his backpack. He’s running downstairs when he hears the horn outside so he simply grabs his mug of coffee and runs out the door, yelling a quick goodbye over his shoulder. 

“Well someone looks tired.” Pidge says from the backseat of Hunks car as Lance climbs into the passenger side. He just grunts in response and takes a swig of his drink, praying the caffeine will wake him up soon.

They pull up to the school at exactly 7:15, leaving them 15 minutes before their first class starts. Early enough to get a good parking space, but not so early that they’ll die of boredom before the school day even begins. 

“Oh! Lance! Did you finish your essay on British Imperialism in the 19th century?” Pidge says suddenly. 

“Uh, ya, I think.”

“Ok good, wanted to make sure you didn’t need to copy mine. Cause, I gotta run, see you dorks at lunch!” Then suddenly they’re off, disappearing around a corner.

He looks to Hunk who simply shrugs and they continue walking to the commons area to meet Allura. 

“Good morning!” Her bright voice calls out to them the second she spots them coming through the hall. “How did you guys sleep last night?”

Lance shrugs and allows Hunk to reply, launching the two into a long discussion and allowing him to zone out. He’s staring at the door to the office, simply because of the way his chair is facing, and can’t believe his luck when one of the cutest people he has  _ ever  _ seen walks out, closely followed by the principle. The boy is fairly tall, pale, and has fluffy black hair sticking out from under a red beanie. He’s wearing ripped black jeans, red converse, and a tight gray shirt topped off by a flannel rolled to his elbows, exposing wrists covered in bracelets. 

Yeah. Very cute.

Then suddenly there’s a hand waving right in front of his face. “Yo.” Hunk says, “Earth to Lance. Allura asked how your private went last night.”

“Oh!” He replies, “Sorry, I’m really tired. It was good though, Coran seemed pleased at least.”

“Has he announced what show you guys are doing for spring?”

“No, but he did tell us it’s going to be non-audition. Just based on what he’s seen in class. I’m a bit nervous though, I haven’t had to do the ballet  _ and  _ the general show in a couple years.”

“Oh yeah! Coran told me you signed back up for all the other classes you used to take, up until freshman year!”

He nods. “Yeah. I was really sad I had to quit, but my mama thought it would be best for me to adjust to high school without so much on my plate. It’s been like two and a half years now, I’m a little worried about keeping up, but I never stopped practicing on my own.”

She smiles, “I’m sure you’ll do great Lance.”

He smiles back and she turns back to talk to Hunk again, once again allowing him the opportunity to zone out all the way until the bell rings to go to class. He waves goodbye to his two friends then walks the long trek across the school to his physics class.

He sits in his usual seat and turns to talk to the girl that sits on his right. His hip is a bit sore so he pulls his leg up, keeping it bent and pressing the length of his calf along the edge of his desk. They’re able to talk for about a minute before the bell rings again to signal the start of class.

Mr. Arnold has just made it up to the board when the door opens again and in walks - Lance can’t believe this - the cute boy from earlier. Iverson walks him to the front of the class and then begins speaking. 

“Good morning Cadets, I have the pleasure today to introduce you to our newest student, Keith Kogane.” Then he simply turns and walks out the door. 

Mr. Arnold turns to Keith and smiles, and Lance struggles not to stair as Mr. Arnold points him to a seat, the seat right on Lance’s left side. The boy simply can’t believe his luck.

“Ok class!” Mr. Arnold says, “I finally finished grading the tests from last week, so feel free to talk amongst yourselves while I pass them back.”

Immediately the room erupts into chatter, save the few students, including Lance, who are too tired to make the effort to strike up a conversation of their own. That is, until a voice next to him says, “How in the world are you holding your leg like that?”

He turns quickly to the boy on his left, making eye contact with the boys eyes of a violet-gray. “Oh,” he replies, “I guess it’s just a thing I can do.” He answers dumbly. “I’m Lance, by the way.”

Keith smiles and Lance can suddenly hardly breathe, he vaguely wonders how the boy got such a dazzling smile before he’s gracefully interrupted from further thought by the teacher placing his test down on his desk. 

He picks it up and his eyes fly to the bright red score in the right-hand corner of the page, then breaks out in a smile. 95%! He can hardly believe it! 

He idly flips through the pages of the test for the next couple minutes until Mr. Arnold starts class, then he listens best he can for the next hour, making sure to take neat and detailed notes  _ without  _ accidentally falling asleep on top of them.

When the bell rings he quickly stuffs his notebook into his bag and moves to bolt out the door before a light hand on his wrist stops him.

“Hey, Lance.” Keith says and holds up his schedule, “Can you tell me where  my next class is?” 

Lance looks at the paper and smiles. “Well Keith, it’s your lucky day, looks like we have all four of our classes together today. And three tomorrow! So yeah! Just stick with me and I’ll get you where you need to go!”

Which, of course, is his plan, then they end up on opposite sides of the room for English and Keith disappears out the door before Lance has the chance to invite him to lunch with him and his friends. 

So. Lance once again drags himself to the commons to find his friends. Which, honestly isn’t hard in the slightest.

Pidge is up on the table, jumping in an attempt to reach some sort of drone which is flying of their head, and Hunk is trying to help whilst yelling things like “Is  _ this  _ where you disappeared to this morning?” “I can’t believe you  _ Launched  _ it! It clearly wasn’t ready!” then, finally, “Oh my god  _ Lance!  _ Please come help us.” 

Lance sighs and sidesteps Allura, who is attempting to keep away other students, and drops his bag before stepping up on the table, nearly getting knocked in the head by the crazy drone, which then flies even higher.

“Ok. Pidge. I’m going to lift you, all you’re going to have to do is hold your body tight and grab the thing.”

Pidge nods and Hunk chews his lip in worry, “Please be careful guys.”

Lance just nods before grabbing Pidge by the hips and turning them around. “Ok Pidgey, jump after three. 1. 2. 3. Down, up!” and with that, he uses the momentum Pidge got on their own to lift them up and over his head. “Here it comes! Hold your body tight so I don’t drop you and freaking grab the thing!” But apparently holding your body tight as to not fall out of a lift is a thing heavily  _ trained _ into dancers and the girls in his class, because Lance barely manages to keep Pidge above his head until they snatch the drone. The second Lance sees they’ve got it, he does what he’s always done in a lift gone south and puts his partner before himself. 

He gracelessly lets go of Pidge as he falls to his butt, reaching out and grabbing them in his arms as they let out a high pitched screech. He feels the commons area let out a collective breath and then a few people break out in either laughter or applause. Pidge simply clutches the drone to their chest and finds the off switch, while Lance groans and shifts his weight. 

“Pidge.” He says with a glare, “If you don’t learn what ‘hold your body tight’ means before I’m forced to lift you, I will likely break something. That hurt.”

The gremlin only lets out a huff and says, “Oh grow up, you’re fine.”

Lance just rolls his eye and all four of the friends slide into their usual seat around the table. Hunk and Pidge pull their school lunches back towards them, Allura and Lance pull their food out of their backpacks. 

“Oh dear.” Pidge says through a mouthful of food, “What did our health freaks bring this time?”

Lance just laughs as he opens his lunch container, showing off a handful of almonds, two slices of ham, and a small stack of whole wheat crackers. Allura smiles and pulls out a salad. Pidge just curls their nose and eats more of the school food, that is honestly so bad Lance wonders how anyone can keep it down. 

They joke and jab for the rest of lunch, comfortable in each others presence. Hunk and Lance met in pre-school and immediately took to each other, and they met Pidge in sixth grade when they suddenly jumped two grades and showed up in one of their classes. Allura, being a year older, they hadn’t met until high school, but she immediately took to them all and pulled them under her wing. It was weird to think that she would graduate at the end of this year, and then be off enjoying adult life. 

Lance was closing his now empty container and sliding it into his bag when it happened. Keith walked back by the commons. Of course, Lance couldn’t stop himself from staring. Keith had clearly just come in from outside, his nose and cheeks slightly pink, and he just looked absolutely adorable. Though the color  _ did  _ slightly ruin his bad boy vibe. 

“Oh. My. God.” comes from Allura and Lance quickly snaps his eyes back to the group, to see every one of them smiling, “Does someone have a crush? That’s the second time I’ve seen you staring at that kid today!”

“Jeez Allura, he’s just new. Besides, he’s probably not even gay. There are like two out gay kids at this school, ones a girl I don’t even know, and the other is me, the resident bi.”

“No way!” Cries Pidge, “You have got to talk to him. If you don’t I will.”

“Chill out Pidgeon, we did talk. I was stretching my leg on the desk, like I sometimes do when my hips are sore, and he asked me how I did it, or something.” Which, apparently, was the wrong thing to say as Pidge started practically vibrating and the entire group started bombarding him with question after question. 

“He noticed your flexibility?”

“I mean, kinda, that stretch isn’t even hard.”

“Was he blushing?”

“I don’t know!”

“Did you talk about anything else?”

“Yeah, he asked me to point him to his next class.”

“So you saw his schedule? Tell me everything you remember.”

“What, so you can stalk him? No way.”

“Ok, fine. What color were his eyes.”

“I don’t know, like a violet-gray?”

And so on and so forth until the lunch bell  _ finally _ ends. This saves him from two of his friends, but he and Pidge have their next class together. Then he remembers, and his heart rate picks up a bit, Keith has it too. He groans as he walks into the room and sees that Keith has already been placed in the only desk that wasn’t used in the seating chart. The one right next to Pidge. 

Lance knows immediately when Pidge notices this because a wicked grin breaks out across their face. A grin that he knows will mean nothing good for the poor boy across the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! (please don't expect all my updates to be this quick, it's the weekend and I actually have time.)


	3. Chapter 3

“Alright, class! Disperse and stretch, we’re testing today, the final before you transfer for the second semester, so make sure you get warm!” The coach cries out. 

Lance sighs and moves across the room before sinking down and doing a few simple stretches. To him gym class is pointless. The running is stupid because it requires a certain heart rate, which he can’t get to because his heart is amazing thanks to years of dance. So he’ll get docked points no matter how fast he runs. The stretching is worth nothing because all they’re required to do is touch their toes, and come on, he’s a dancer. Sit-ups have a requirement of 50, which is less than he does to warm up every day. Basically, Lance hates this class because there isn’t a challenge, except for the stupid heart rate thing that’s just challenging him to be less healthy. Then beyond that, he just  _ hates  _ running. Why won’t they let him get his gym credits through dance? He knows the answer, it’s because they claim dance isn’t a sport. He’s just really glad this is almost his last day, knowing they finish off the semester next week is one of the best feelings in the world. 

A few minutes after stretching begins Lance has gotten bored, so he decides to put actual effort in, maybe get something out of it for once. He slides down into his middle splits before leaning sideways and resting on his left leg, he holds there for a few seconds before leaning the other way to rest on his right. Then he rotates his hips so his left leg is in front of him, stretch forward and hold, arch back and pick up the leg then hold. Then he rotates back through his middles and to his right leg, repeating the process. He just zones into his stretching and hyperfocusses, he hadn’t realized until that moment just how sore he was from last nights classes. 

It’s only when he’s stretching his back arch, head almost to his ankles, that he realizes about half the class is just staring at him, including the new boy. He feels heat rush up his neck to the tips of his ears and quickly stands up, attempting to ignore the stares he feels boring holes into his back, and picks up his water bottle. He normally doesn’t mind attention as he stretches, but this wasn’t the positive kind or the jealous kind he enjoys. This was the kind of mean high schoolers, the kind of stares that judge him for being too “feminine.” He stays over by the wall until the coach calls for the testing to start, then he joins the class once more.

 

 

* * *

 

 

After the bell finally rings to let them out of gym Lance makes his way quick as he can to the commons to meet up with his friends for a few precious minutes before he once again has to run to the dance studio. He really needs to figure out what Pidge said to Keith, lucky for him they’re already sitting at the table.

“Pidge!” He practically screeches as he throws his stuff down on the table. “What in the ever loving name of anything and everything you hold dear did you say to Keith?”

“All I said was, ‘Hey, my names Pidge. You’re new right?’ Then he nodded and I said ‘Well, our midyear final is next week and I’m guessing you probably don’t have to take it.’ To which he nodded again and I said, ‘Well, after that would you like to join my study group? There’s a lot of content in this class to keep up on.’ Then he was like, ‘Really? That would be great. Thank you.’ Then I gave him my number and couldn’t get him to talk to me the rest of class. He’s kinda mysterious don’t you think?”

“Oh my… no…. Piiiiiiiiiiiidge!” He whines, “You invited him to our study group? Whyyyyyyyyyyy.”

“Uh, because it’s the nice thing to do obviously. Why is it such a big deal?”

“Because, Pidge, you know how I study.”

“Yeah. So?”

“First of all, not weird, it helps me focus, and second of all, I can’t do that around Keith, he’ll think its weird.”

“Oh come on, I’m sure he wouldn’t.”

“Trust me.” He says with a sigh, “He’ll think its weird. And another thing, I got hyper-focused on my stretching at the beginning of gym, and almost everyone ended up staring at me. Being all judgy.”

Pidge’s face softens a bit before they continue speaking, “Lance. We’ve been over this, the kids at school don’t judge you for being flexible, they stare because it’s cool.”

Lance shakes his head and is about to reply when his phone buzzes in his pocket. “I gotta run.” He says and stands up, walking away before Pidge can say anything more. 

He slides into the front seat of the car and says hello to his mom before switching out his backpack for his dance bag as she pulls away from the school. His phone buzzes in his pocket a few times, but he chooses to ignore it, instead staring out the window.

“Lance?” His mom says, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, mama. I’m fine, just tired. You’re picking me up after class right?”

She nods, still looking a bit worried. “Yes, you get off tonight before your father gets off work, so we won’t be dropping off his car for you to get home.”

He nods in reply and a few minutes later they’re pulling into the parking lot. He jumps out of the car and walks into the studio to quickly change before class starts. Black tights, black shoes, tight black tank, and a blue crop top that says “meet me at the barre” in a fancy cursive font. 

Goosebumps break out along his arms when he steps out of the bathroom, so he dumps his bag on a hook and makes his way quickly to the studio to start warming up. 

The second he walks in Nyma is right in his face saying, “Did you hear? Coran is going to tell us what ballet show we’re doing today! I’m so excited! Supposedly he’s taking a classic or something and gender swapping a few key characters. I’m so excited!” And the said excitement is evident in the way she’s bouncing on her toes. 

Lance laughs and smiles, “I’m excited too! I bet you’ll get a lead!”

Nyma grabs his shoulders and is suddenly very serious. “Lance, we all know you’re going to get a lead. You’re probably the  _ reason  _ Coran is gender swapping things!” He starts to shake his head but she keeps talking, “I know that face Lance, what happened at school? I thought kids stopped making fun of you for ballet?”

“People don’t really  _ say  _ anything, they just look at me funny.”

Nyma pats his cheek sympathetically, but neither of them says anything else as Coran dramatically bursts into the room.

“Well! I do believe today is the day!” And with that, the entire room is suddenly held in rapt attention. “As you all know, ballet schedules change next week to accommodate the amount of practice you will need for your parts, which are in envelopes in this basket.” Said basket seems to be pulled out of nowhere for him to hold up to the class. “I really did my best to make this as fair as possible, and I’m very excited. Some of you  _ will  _ be dancing with my next class down, but rest assured, I need a top in every group, and it secures you a spot in the front. Now, who wants to know what the show is?”

The entire room is practically vibrating with energy, the spring show is one of the biggest events of the studio every year, and oftentimes college scouts even show up, looking for talent. Altea Dance studio really is a big deal, and many students eventually make it big, and each and every student in this room hopes to be one to do just that. 

“Alright, I’ll tell you.” The entire room holds a collective breath. “This year, Altea Dance Studio is putting on  _ Alec In Wonderland _ !” There's a moment where Coran simply looks at them, everyone wondering if they heard right. “That’s right my lovely friends, Alec, not Alice. As in a male lead, not a female. So, without further ado, let’s begin class. You can all bombard me for your envelope at the end of the day.”

And with that, class begins. Plié, tendu, dégagé, rond de jambe, frappé, fondu, stretch, grande battement, développé, échappé, exercise after exercise, turn after turn, jump after jump, stumble after stumble, until it was finally 7:30, the end of their four-hour class. 

Dozens of sweaty dancers, breathing hard and fast moved over nearer Coran as they did their cool down stretch. “Wow,” he says, “I really do feel loved.” Then he wipes away a fake tear, bringing a tired chuckle out of a few of the dancers. “One last thing my friends. A lot of you are going to have a lot more hours now. As you know we cut this daily class in half, bringing us down to 2 hours a day instead of 4, so that we have time for parts. Many of you will only have to stay an hour or two after this class once or twice a week, but a good few of you are going to be at this studio for even longer than you are now. Often coming straight from school and staying until close.” He looks each of them in the eye in turn, taking a while to make it to each of the 20 dancers in the room. “I gave you only what I believe you can handle, including classes of other styles, but please, please tell me if you don’t feel you can handle it. I do not want dance to hurt you, dance is a force for good.” He pauses again, letting his words sink in, “Now, without any further ado, your parts and schedules.”

He pulls the first envelope at random, calling out a name. The girl skips over to take it happily. This process repeats and repeats. “Rachel.” “Derek.” “Tyler.” “Jade.” “Alex M.” “Annie.” “Alex T.” “Nyma.” “Lance.” Coran slowly lowers the number, until no envelope is left. Out of respect for the other dancers, not a single dancer has opened their own. 10 boys and 9 girls sit in rapt silence as the final girl takes her envelope and sits back down, then the sound of tearing paper fills the room as everyone opens the letters. Well, almost everyone. 

Lance stairs at the envelope clutched in his two hands, watching it tremble with his shaking hands. 

He hears Tyler cry out from across the room that he’s the King of Hearts, hears that Annie is the Mad Hatter, Rachel the White Rabbit. 

“Holy! Lance, you were right!” Comes from Nyma, right beside him, “I’m the Dormouse! That’s pretty good!” She turns towards him then and lowers her voice, “Oh no. Lance are you ok? You look like you might be sick.” He shakes his head and feels tears building behind his eyes and the shaking gets worse. “Here, can I open it?” She gently places a hand on his arm and pulls the envelope from his hands. “I’m not going to open it until you give me permission, but I do want to see. I’m sure it’s an amazing part.” He puts his hands over his face, but nods to tell her she can open it. He hears the tear, then the paper pulled out from inside, a moment of unfolding, and then a gasp. “I KNEW IT!” She practically screams, bringing everyone's attention to her. “Lance! You have to look!”

“What’d he get Nyma?” Cries Alex M. “You’ve got to tell us!”

“Shut up Alex,” Dylan says in reply, “He’s literally the best dancer here. I’m almost 100% sure he’s Alec.” A bunch of people cry out at that, some in agreement, some offended.

“Shut up all of you!” Nyma says, crawling over in front of him. “Will you please look Lance?” He shakes his head, panic riding up in his stomach. She gently pulls his arms away from his face and holds his cheeks, forcing him to look into her eyes. “You are an amazing dancer and an amazing person, and I wish you could see that. But I know it’s hard sometimes. Will you please look at it with me?” He nods faintly and she turns, picking up the letter again and holding it up to him. “I know it, Dylan knows it, and clearly Coran can see it too. You’re Alec Lance. He genderbent the show for you.”

The tears start coming then and Nyma pulls him into her arms, a few others from the class joining too. They’ve been together for years, they’ve become a family. Though he hates to admit it, some of them know him better than he knows himself. They watched him grow, and they held him up the years he struggled through school while being bullied for dance and then the years where he struggled finding his sexuality. They know the effect the bullying had on him and the way it crushed his self-esteem, even though all most of them only get to see his cocky, confident side now. 

He cries as they continue to hug him and congratulate him, only a few staying out of the mix, but he lets himself absorb the words they say. 

“We’re so proud of you Lance.”

“I always knew you had it in you.”

“This is going to be an amazing show!”

“You’re going to absolutely shine on that stage!”

“We should invite everyone who was ever mean to you, just to say ‘Ha! Look at me now!’”

And eventually, Lance breaks out in a grin. “Thanks, you guys. Really.” They all smile at him again and people slowly stand, looking at their schedules and dispersing from the room. Lance picks up his papers and makes his way to Coran. 

“Do you really think I can do it?”

“If I didn’t, do you really think I would’ve cast you?”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Later that night, after he gets home and has bragged to his whole family and eaten dinner, he calls Allura.

“Did you know?” He says.

She laughs, “Yeah. He told me weeks ago.”

“Do Hunk and Pidge know?”

He hears a cry in the background, apparently, Pidge is there. He faintly hears “What’s the jerk saying about me?”

“I’ll take that as a no then….”

“Obviously Lance. I wouldn’t take away your chance to tell them. I’m really proud of you, by the way.”

“Thanks, Allura.”

“Anytime. Now, finish your homework and get in bed. I’ll see you tomorrow Ok?”

“I will. Goodnight. Love you, and tell Pidgey I love them, too.”


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Lance wakes up still giddy from the night before. He still can’t believe he got cast as  _ Alec!  _ He brushes his hair - smiling. He gets dressed - smiling. He eats breakfast - smiling. He brushes his teeth - still smiling.

Then, suddenly from downstairs he hears, “ _ Lance! Why didn’t you tell us!” _

Mouth still full of toothpaste he attempts to yell back, “Tell you what?” but it comes out as more of a “gel you gut.”

His mother's voice calls back, “That your part of Alec is  _ On Pointe!!!!!!” _

Lance literally chokes before he can spit out his toothpaste and then is sprinting down the stairs. “Alecisonwhatnow?” He says it so fast it comes out as one word as he flies into the kitchen to see his mother staring at his part letter. 

His brother looks between the two of them and says, “I’m guessing because he didn’t know.” And then  _ laughs _ . 

Lance springs up to lean as far as he can over the counter, feet kicking in the air and hands grabbing for his letter, “Give it please please please!!!!” 

His mother hands it over and he reads the first page much more carefully than the glance he gave it last night. 

 

_ Lance McClain,  _

 

_ We’re delighted to announce that in our production of  _ Alec In Wonderland,  _ you will be dancing the part of  _ **_Alec_ ** _. This will present you with an amazing opportunity to grow as a dancer and show of your abilities and we can’t wait to see what you make of it.  _

_ In this genderbent rendition of the famous show, many things are going to be quite obviously different. The iconic characters will switch genders, putting the Mad Hatter and the White rabbit in tutus, while switching a Queen to a King. Yes, this already puts us at risk for being too ahead of the times, and possibly causing a controversial scandal, so we here at the studio decided to do something none of us have ever seen before, putting a male lead on pointe. That’s right Lance, in this show you will get to dance on stage, in the spotlight, on pointe. Get ready to change the world, and please wear your pointe shoes to all general ballet classes. _

 

_ -ALTEA DANCE STUDIO _

 

Lance simply stares at the letter, tears welling up behind his eyes again. Never, even in his wildest dreams, had he thought he would get to dance on stage in his pointe shoes. “Mama. I can’t believe it. I’m not dreaming am I?”

His mom laughs and comes around the counter to hug him, “No Lance, this is very very real. I’m so so proud of you.”

The moment, however, is ruined by a persistent horn outside. “I gotta run mama! I’ll make sure to look at my schedule and add everything I need to the calendar.”

She nods and kisses him on the cheek before he grabs his backpack and blue vans, sprinting out the door.

Pidge, being Pidge, is standing on the center console, head sticking out the sunroof, and starts screaming the second he gets out the door. “Yo! Ass-butt! What is it you and Allura were talking about last night?” They stumble a bit as Hunk pulls at their legs.

“Get off the console Pidge! My mom will stop letting me drive the car to school every day!” He cries out. 

Lance pulls open the door and climbs into the passenger seat and sing-songs “I’ll show you if you go sit down.”

Pidge grumbles in reply but slides all the way into the car and falls into the seat behind him and Hunk pulls the car onto the road. 

“Seatbelt, Pidge.” They grumble and stick their tongue out at him, but put it on anyway. “Ok, now, you have to promise not to scream because I don’t want Hunk to crash. But, here.”

He holds the letter back to them and they snatch it, eyes going wide as they read. “You’re  _ kidding!  _ How could Allura not tell me? This is so amazing!”

“What is it?” Hunk says, never taking his eyes off the road. “Pidge, read it out loud, I want to know.”

“No way! This is too good! I can’t read it now for fear we’ll crash, you’ll just have to wait until we get to school.”

Both boys know it’s of no use arguing with them over anything, so Hunk falls silent and may or may not pick up the speed, just a little, getting them to the school only three minutes later. Hunk reaches for the letter, but Pidge shakes their head and gets out of the car, the boys following only a second later. 

Then, they finally hand the letter to Hunk, Lance bouncing on his toes as the other boy reads it. 

“Oh. My. God. Lance!!!!!!” He cries out and then pulls him into the biggest hug, “I’m so freaking proud of you! I can’t believe it! We  _ have  _ to find Allura, like, right now.”

“Allura already knows buddy, apparently she’s known for weeks.”

“And she didn’t tell  _ any  _ of us? Abominable!”

All three of them laugh as they walk towards the school. Pidge is the next one to speak, “So, uh, Lance. What does this mean for your dance schedule?” 

“Oh… well…. I actually haven’t looked yet.”

“Oh… you should probably do that Lance.”

“I will, I will, don’t worry. We should at least get to the commons first.”

And so, they do. They make their way to their usual table all together, Allura already there and sweeping Lance into the biggest hug as soon as he walks up. They all smile and laugh, and then Lance pulls out the second page of the letter to look at his new schedule. The studio schedule is on there, Lance’s classes are just in bold to make them stand out. 

 

_ Monday:  _

_ 9-10 am purple flowers (3-4 year old class) ~A~ _

_ 10-11 am hedgehogs (4-5 year old class) ~A~ _

**_3:30-5:30 pm high-level general ballet ~A~_ **

_ 4-5 pm pink flowers (10-11 year old class) ~B~ _

_ 5-6 pm 6-7 year old beginning jazz ~B~ _

**_5:30-7:30 pm overture and tea party (Lance, Annie, Rachel, Nyma, Alex M.) ~A~_ **

_ 6-7 pm 8-9 year old jazz ~B~ _

_ 7-8 pm 10-11 year old jazz ~B~ _

_ 5-6 pm roses (8-9 year old class) ~C~ _

**_7:30-9 pm high-level lyrical ~A~_ **

_ 6-8 pm cards core (12+ class on flat) ~C~ _

_ 8-9 pm 12+ mid-level jazz ~B~ _

**_9-10:30 pm high level jazz ~A~_ **

 

_ Tuesday: _

**_3:30-5:30 pm high-level general ballet ~A~_ **

_ 4:15-5:15 pm little caterpillars (6-7 year old class) ~B~ _

**_5:30-6:30 pm (Lance and Rachel) ~A~_ **

_ 5:30-6:30 pm 6-7 year old lyrical ~B~ _

_ 5:30-8:30 pm (Jade and Luke) ~C~ _

**_6:30-7:30 pm (Lance and Ryan) ~A~_ **

_ 6:30-7:30 pm 8-9 year old lyrical ~B~ _

**_7:30-10:00 pm (Lance) ~A~_ **

_ 7:30-8:30 pm 10-11 year old lyrical ~B~ _

_ 8:30-9:30 pm 12+ mid-level lyrical ~B~ _

 

_ Wednesday: _

**_3:30-5:30 pm high-level general ballet ~A~_ **

_ 4-5 pm card core (12+ mid-level ballet) ~B~ _

_ 4-5 pm 6-7 year old hip hop ~C~ _

_ 5-6 pm 8-9 year old hip hop ~C~ _

_ 5:30-7:30 pm butterfly core (intermediate partnering ballet/pointe and Taylor and Florona) ~B~ _

**_5:30-6:30 pm (Lance and Roman) ~A~_ **

_ 6-7 pm 10-11 year old hip hop ~C~ _

**_6:30-7:30 pm (Lance and Annie) ~A~_ **

_ 7-8 pm 12+ mid-level hip hop ~C~ _

**_7:30-8:30 pm (Lance, Derek, Damian, Lilly, and Nadia) ~A~_ **

_ 7:30-9:30 pm (Alex T., Brooks, and Sloane) ~B~ _

**_8:30-10:30 pm (Lance, Tyler, James, and Kinkade) ~A~_ **

 

_ Thursday: _

**_3:30-5:30 pm high-level general ballet ~A~_ **

_ 4-5 pm 6-7 year old beginning tap ~C~ _

**_5:30-7:30 pm overture and tea party (Lance, Annie, Rachel, Nyma, Alex M.) ~A~_ **

_ 5-6 pm 8-9 year old tap ~C~ _

_ 6-7 pm 10-11 year old tap ~C~ _

_ 5:30-7:30 pm (Derek, Damian, Lilly, Nadia) ~B~ _

_ 7-8 pm 12+ mid-level tap ~C~ _

_ 8-9 pm (Tyler and Rachel) ~C~ _

**_7:30-9 pm high-level hip hop ~A~_ **

_ 7:30-8:30 pm cards core (12+ class on flat) ~B~ _

_ 9-10:30 pm (Tyler, Kinkade, and James) ~B~ _

**_9-10:30 pm high-level tap ~C~_ **

 

_ Friday: _

**_3:30-9 pm all solo and demi-soloist parts (Lance, Ryan, Tyler, Derek, Damian, Lilly, Nadia, Rachel, Luke, Jade, Alex M., Nyma, Kinkade, James, and Annie)_ **

 

_ Saturday: _

**_8 am-12 pm all solo and demi-soloist parts (Lance, Ryan, Tyler, Derek, Damian, Lilly, Nadia, Rachel, Luke, Jade, Alex M., Nyma, Kinkade, James, and Annie)_ **

 

**_Note to all Dancers:_ **

**_Schedule is subject to change as needed._ **

**_On_ ** **_April 18th_ ** **_schedules will change again to put ballet scenes together and fit in staging, tech rehearsals, and dress rehearsals before our shows in May._ **

 

Lance sighs, so much for a social life. Then he sends a picture of it to his mom with the caption, “Basically, just put me at the studio from after school until bed every weekday.” Then he turns to his friends and they talk about the nothings of life until the bell rings to send them to class. 

When they stand Lance hears the pops of his knees and, gathering from Pidge’s face of disgust, so did they. 

“Lance.” They say with a very straight face, “No human body should pop as much as you do. What has dance done to you delicate joints?”

“It’s just a dancer thing I guess. It feels really good when they pop, releases so much tension. I bet everyone in my class would agree.”

Pidge grimaces, “That’s absolutely disgusting. How does that feel good? I bet in the same way constantly sitting in your middle splits ‘feels good.’ Are you 100% sure you’re a human being?”

Lance just laughs and they walk together to the math hallway, Pidge going into some college class and Lance just going into his regular smart kid class, honors, rather than their super genius class. Then he sits down in his desk and once again props a calf up against it in order to stretch his hip, hardly noticing he does it at all, and zones out on his phone. 

At some point, Keith comes in and sits down nearby, but Lance does his best to ignore him and his cute, broody face. The bell rings soon after and the teacher comes in, announcing that he’ll be passing back the tests for the beginning of class, and the rest of class time can be spent going over the test and attempting to figure out the questions they got wrong, so Lance bends over and pulls a book out of his bag and starts reading, again becoming hyperfocussed on the story in front of him and not even realizing when Keith pulls out a sketchbook and begins drawing. 

Soon thereafter, the teacher stops at Lance’s desk and smiles before placing his test down. Lance pauses his reading and picks it up to check the score. Which, surprisingly is a 98%, but he hardly notices and just puts it back down - way too involved in his story to stop now. And so, before he knows it, the first hour and 20 minutes of school have passed and it’s time to head to his next class.

A lot of the day passes just like that, he’s tired enough that he can only focus on one thing at a time even  _ more  _ than usual. So, lucky for him, the day passes quickly and before he knows it he’s sitting back in the commons with his friends after school. Which is when he finally realizes one of the best things ever.

“Oh my god, guys.” He says, “I just realized, I don’t have class today! He announced parts yesterday so that means I get a blessed day of rest! Please, please, please say at least one of you is up for a movie marathon tonight, and then we can study tomorrow; rejuvenated after a nice relaxing night.”

“I’m down.” Says Hunk.

“Same here.” Says Pidge.

“Count me in!” Says Allura excitedly.

“My place?” Hunk says again, “If all your parents are down we can do a movie marathon into a sleepover, then start studying tomorrow without having to regroup.”

The group murmurs in agreement and everyone quickly texts their mothers, each of whom readily replies with an “ok,” mostly because they know that after all their years of friendship the four friends will find a way. 

“Sweet!” Hunk says, “Lance, this was the best idea. It will be a much needed night of rest. I’m thinking leave now, swing by both yours and Pidge’s places to grab your stuff, and then meet Allura at mine in 45 minutes?”

The other three nod in turn and all of them stand up together and head out of the school.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“No, absolutely not.” Pidge says, “There is absolutely no way.”

“What?!?!” Lance cries out in reply, “You mean to tell me that you’re one of the absolute  _ dweebs  _ who thinks the ‘get help’ scene wouldn’t work!” 

“It’s ridiculous! Who would fall for it? Who could pull it off well enough to get people to actually fall for it?”

“Pidgey. Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't think that  _ we  _ could do it.”

“Oh. Touche Lancey.” They both fall silent and Pidge lays back down while Lance falls back into another random stretch, popping his hip on the way. 

Hunk, who was used to their shenanigans had paused the movie the second the two had started talking, and started it again the second they both settled back in.

Lance smiles and looks around the room, enjoying the simple company of his friends. Pidge in their alien onesie, Hunk in his gray hoodie and yellow sweatpants, and Allura in pink leggings and a blue tank top, all their eyes reflecting the light of the TV. He honestly can’t imagine what he would do without all of them, and knows surviving high school would no be one of the things. 

Then, he simply allows himself the settle in for the rest of the night (except for during the few silly arguments) as they watch Marvel movies in a random order until they’ve each fallen asleep in a small pile on the floor.

 

 

* * *

  
  


 

The following morning brings his three friends disgust as he stands and pops nearly every joint in his body, and then joy to all four of them as they smell bacon and pancakes from the other room, and then disgust once again as they finish eating and remember that they have to study. 

Pidge and Lance move one side of the room to study for their history exam while Hunk and Allura study for their final culinary exam on the other side. They each rotate a bit throughout the day, making sure to take lots of breaks, and at some point, Lance even manages to get them to dance with him for an hour, and by Saturday evening they each feel pretty well prepared for all their exams the following week. 

As they each part ways Lance thinks again that he couldn’t ask for a better group of friends. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I only have two things to say:
> 
> one, making that schedule took a really really long time and I don't know why I did that to myself, making sure everyone had enough practice time, classes in studios didn't overlap, etc. etc. oof
> 
> second, Pidge + Lance as best buds gives me life.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Lance is a blushing mess and we see the beginnings of the Wonderland show

“You guys are the _worst!_ ” Lance cries out only seconds after he gets in the car Monday morning.

“Oh my god, Lance.” Says Pidge, “It’s your own fault you sat on it, you should _look_ before you sit down! You have eyes for a reason! Just be grateful it’s not fragile!”

He groans in reply, “I’m not mad that I sat on it, I’m mad you got it! You guyyyys.”

“Lance.” Hunk says from the driver's seat in irritation, “Please just open it.”

To emphasize Hunk’s point, Pidge shoves the crumpled package in his face, then together the two start chanting. “Open it. Open it. Open it.”

Lance sighs again but takes the package from Pidge. “I swear, if you guys got me something like, super expensive, I will pay you back. You guys really didn’t need to.”

“Lance. Seriously.” Pidge says, “Just shut up and open it. We got it because we’re proud of you, ok?”

He looks up and smiles at them, then looks down and carefully unwraps the box. He pauses one more time before pulling it open. “You promise it wasn’t expensive?”

“ _LANCE!”_ Both his friends cry out, and he laughs, looking down and pulling the lid off, then pulling out the fabric that’s inside, letting it unfold.

He smiles again as he sees a new crop top held out in front of him, the fabric blue and flowy with the words “Without Dance, What’s the Pointe?” written across the front.

“Awe. Guys! I’m definitely wearing this to practice like all the time. Just so you’re aware. I love you, you know that right?”

Pidge smiles and leans over the seat to give him a hug.

“Oh my _god_ Pidgey! Put on your seatbelt! I know Hunks a good driver, but most other people are _not!”_

“Alright, alright. _Fine!”_ And with that, they plop down in their seat and put on their seatbelt, right as Hunk pulls into the school parking lot. “See, Lance. I was totally ok.” They stick their tongue out at him, yanking the seatbelt off and hopping out of the car.

Lance laughs and scoots out himself, swooping their tiny body off the ground and into a hug as they give and indignant squawk, only for Hunk to join moments later and squish both of them in his massive arms. Pidge groans, mumbling something about “ugh, love” before Lance finally lets them back down to the ground, where they straighten their glasses with a glare. He just sticks his tongue out in return and starts walking towards the school.

The trio is about halfway there when there’s a sudden screech behind them before Lance is hit with a solid weight, for which he lets out a small “oof.”

“Lance! Lance! Lance!” Oh, he knows that voice.

“Hi, Lila.” He chuckles. “What’s up?”

“Ohhhhhh aren’t you just so so so excited for the show! _Alec in Wonderland!”_ She lets out a little squeal and jumps up and down. “My class is the butterfly core! That’s like, one of the longest songs in the show from what I’ve been able to gather. I know we’re not in the whole thing, but I’m super excited! This will be my first year in a show on pointe!” She squeals again.

“Yeah, Lila!” He laughs again, “I’m pretty excited. I’m proud Coran is keeping your class on pointe this year!”

She grabs his biceps very suddenly in a vice-like grip. “Now. Tell me. What part did you get? I’m sure it’s amazing!”

“Well, actually-” Pidge starts from beside him before they’re cut off, presumably by Hunks hand.

Lance laughs again before smiling at Lila. “I’m actually lucky enough to have the part of Alec, which means we finally get to dance together!”

Lila squeals in delight and squeezes him before dashing off the other way. Lance shakes his head. “That girl actually might be insane. How does she have so much energy?”

His friends chuckle and they all continue inside for another boring school day

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Piiiiiiiidgeon!” Lance shouts out while dashing out after them. For someone so small they can move ridiculously fast. “Guess what?”

“What is it, Lance?” They ask with a chuckle as he finally catches up with them.

“You are amazing that’s what. I know I got like super annoyed at the section you kept making me restudy on Saturday, but you were right. It was like a _huge_ part of the test. So thank you!”

They laugh. “Glad I could help. But Lance, don’t you have gym? Like, on the complete other side of the school? And have only like, 2 minutes to get there?”

“ _Crap!”_ He shouts out before flipping around and sprinting down the hallway, ignoring the yell from some teacher he passes. He makes it into the gym just as the bell rings, and waves to the coach before ducking into the locker room to change into his gym clothes.

“Hey, Keith!” He says as he tosses his bag down beside the other boy, who is already dressed with his hair up in a pony. Lance swallows, that really shouldn’t be as cute as it is.

Keith looks up to offer him a small smile before turning back to, whatever it is he’s working on. Lance shakes his head, then turns to his tiny gym locker to pull it open.

That day in gym, because they tested last class and only have one more day after this one, is a free one. Meaning they get to basically do whatever they want as long as it’s physical. Lucky for Lance, who is planning to conserve as much energy as he can for dance tonight, the coach counts simple stretching as physical activity. He makes his way across the gym to a corner and settles into a stretch he loves so much he would literally be willing to live in it, and it's called the pigeon. (Which automatically makes Pidge hate it, but that's a whole other thing.) Basically, he sits with one leg at a 90-degree angle in front of him, and his other stretched long behind him.

Now, when asked about it later Lance will definitely say it didn’t happen, but he most definitely spent the entire period watching Keith. The other boy was bouncing around from small game to small game - basketball, four square, net-less volleyball, and basically anything else the other teens could come up with - and was adorably terrible at every single one. So, of course Lance watched.

Here’s the thing that surprised Lance though, he could tell Keith was fit just by looking at him. He had toned muscles in both his arms and legs, and he even had visible abs the few times his shirt rode up in the heat of a game, so Lance just couldn’t understand how in the _world_ this boy was so fit when he couldn’t even defend himself in in high school gym class sports. Which honestly left only three viable options.

  1. Keith was a dancer and therefore got his muscle in the same way Lance did.
  2. Keith was a gymnast and got his amazing muscles through years of training in the amazing flips and tricks.
  3. Or, Keith was one of those gym freaks that used all the equipment and was extremely healthy, but couldn’t be bothered to learn any actual sports.



Now, while Keith in a leotard would definitely _not_ be an unwelcome thought, gymnast or dancer seemed unlikely simply because there wasn’t a gymnastics gym anywhere close, and the only dance studio nearby that a highly trained dancer would go to (which to have that kind of muscle from dance you would have to be) was Altea, and Lance definitely would’ve heard if someone new showed up. So that means Keith is a gym freak, which means Keith lifting weights, Keith maybe topless, just….. Keith at the gym.

And that’s the story of how Lance turned into a tomato during gym class.

Another hour of staring at Keith and hardcore blushing later, Lance makes his way back to the locker room, but by the time he gets there freaking _Keith_ is already changed back into his street clothes. Even as a dancer with years and years of quick changes behind him, Lance can’t help but be impressed. (and maybe subtly stare a little more at Keith - who is just sitting there, one knee up and propping the same notebook he had been using earlier. maybe a sketchbook?)

Basically, the poor dancer boy is realizing he has a very big crush, and he most definitely is _not_ going to tell his friends.

 

 

* * *

 

 

After the general ballet class of the night, Coran tells Lance he’s welcome to go eat or drink something for a few minutes while he works with the other creatures in order to explain how they’ll introduce themselves to the audience during the Overture. So that’s how Lance finds himself eating raw almonds and staring at his phone as text after text comes through on a group chat called:

 

_We all know you are crushing on new kid dont even bother denying it_

 

He groans and briefly glances over the texts from his friends, burying his face in his hands when he sees Pidge explain how some girl had come over to them after school to ask if Lance was ok because he “was really red for most of gym class.”

He _really_ doesn’t want to talk about _that_ right now, so he drops two more almonds in his mouth and sends off a “shut your mouth” text to all his friends that maybe, just maybe, has a lot harsher language involved, then he slips back into the dance room and watches his classmates jump over, around, and at points literally _onto_ each other as Coran tests them to see exactly what he’s going to want each of them to do in the Overture.

This is the first Lance is actually hearing any of the music from the show; it’s weird as heck, and he loves it. He stretches and kind of bounces his head to the not beat of the song until Coran asks him to join in again as they move on the start experimenting with the Tea Party Scene.

Now this, this will be fun. The tea party scene is actually iconic _._

“Ok.” Coran says, “In this scene, as you know, Lance has just stumbled upon our Mad Hatter, or Annie, and they have a whole scene, which, sidenote is going to be so fun! And at the end of this scene our giant table is going to roll onstage with Rachel and Alex on top, and at the same moment out giant teapot is going to come onstage, which Nyma you will be actually inside. We will get practice props next week, for now, we’ll just have to make do. So, let's start with Hatter and Alec.” He pulls the two of them slightly to the left side of the room before he continues. “Ok, so Lance. The hat is going to be ‘stuck’ on your head, making you distracted as you attempt to remove it, hence you not noticing the table and the teapot. Annie, you’re going to be dancing around him and making faces. I’m giving you this moment to catch your breath after your last routine before we start this one. So, take that moment, also, stay here for a moment.”

The second the man's back is turned Lance puts a panicked look on his face and reaches up, then he makes eye contact with Annie and starts pulling at the _nothing_ by his head like a maniac. Annie doubles over in silent laughter, causing Nyma to notice and place a hand over her mouth to try and stay silent. Of course, Rachel and Alex notice as well, trying to keep their faces straight while nodding to Coran about their pose as the table comes on - Rachel balanced on one foot, the other leg in the air, held onto by Alex so that she can lean far over and clutch a teapot in her hands while he keeps her from falling off the table.

Coran, being the observant man he is, notices their terrible poker faces and turns around to see Lance…. standing completely still with a pleasant smile on his face as both Nyma and Annie are silently doubled over in laughter. The man just shakes his head and comes over, telling Nyma where to kneel to pretend she’s in the teapot.

Then they get into choreography. Annie pulls the hat easily away from Lance and spins over to the table where Alex will let go of Rachel, allowing her to fall and have Annie catch her under her chest, sort of like a bridal carry where the bride got flipped over. At the same time Nyma, who is in fact ‘trapped’ in the giant teapot will dramatically wiggle the, catching Lance’s attention so he runs over to take off the ‘very very heavy lid’ and help Nyma out, only for them to pause halfway and flip around after Alex jumps to on of the chairs, which will be about the height a _normal_ table would be, and then promptly does a flip off that.  

Three hours later they’re all exhausted and have several new bruises, but are very very very excited for when they get to keep learning more of the show tomorrow because Coran is a _very_ crazy man, and the crazy men have the best minds for art.

As he makes his way to his next class he thanks the powers that be that he doesn't have any homework tonight, because he knows that by the time he gets home close to 11 he is going to collapse into bed and fall asleep before his head hits the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can I just say, I wrote a lot of this while sitting in the pigeon stretch because I love it. and I'm also very sore because I too had hours of dance today (I think 6?) and I got dropped. so that's very fun. also, for those of you who are consistently reading along as I write (speaking of which you guys are so sweet <3) would you like me to link the version of the playlist I'm listening to for their show? (if I can figure that out?)


	6. Chapter 6

The second Lance sets foot out of bed the next morning he nearly breaks into tears. Yeah, that hurts. He reaches down and rubs the back of his knees with his knuckles, hissing through his teeth as he digs into the tendons. 

He is sore  _ everywhere,  _ literally in places he didn’t know it was possible to get sore. He stands tall, stretching his hands high above his head and arching back. But, his back doesn’t pop. He rolls his neck and that doesn’t pop either. He groans and flops back down on his bed, wondering if he can just lay in bed all day until dance. Then he laughs at himself because it hurts to  _ walk  _ and so he honestly knows he won’t be able to dance. 

Fifteen minutes later and he’s still stretched out over his bed, gravity pulling at his legs dangling over the side. He logically knows he should get up, but it hurts. He took two days off of class, Friday and Saturday, and one day back was like death. He promises himself to never take time off, even when it’s given to him, but deep in his mind knows he won’t listen when the time comes. He sinks further into his mattress and tries to block out the world for even just a few more minutes. 

“Lance!” His mother's voice jerks him out of his half sleep, “You’re not going to have time for breakfast if you don’t get down here soon!”

He groans and looks at the clock. 7 already? Crap. He jumps up and immediately feels his knees begin to buckle, but just tells himself he’s not allowed to fall and quickly gets ready for the day. He manages to get on clean pants and a clean shirt, then brushes his hair and his teeth before he hears Hunk’s horn outside. He grabs his vans and his backpack, limps into the kitchen to grab a granola bar and his breakfast, and finally limps outside as Hunk honks his horn for the second time. 

“Sorry guys.” He mumbles as he slides into his seat, “I woke up and about died this morning. It was a trick day yesterday, so Coran could see what he actually wanted to choreograph in, and at some point, I hurt every muscle in my body.”

The other two laugh and roll their eyes as they pull out of the driveway. Lance rolls his own eyes too, knowing that people who don’t dance really will never understand how painful it is to use your muscles after a particularly grueling practice. Normal people just don’t realize how insanely freakish dancers are. Lance has seen a girl go onstage with 3 broken ribs and dance the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker, another girl who absolutely  _ shattered  _ her leg onstage and didn’t even cry out, just rolled off the stage with a leg broken in at least 4 different spots, another girl who snapped her toe in half but didn’t stop coming to pointe because she didn’t want to get behind. He once even saw a man bleed all over his white costume cause his leg was that messed up, but when he was dancing you couldn’t even tell, he was tall and graceful until he left the stage and nearly crumpled in agony. 

The school day actually passes really really quickly, likely because Lance spends a lot of it half asleep on his desk while his teachers turn on random movies that have absolutely nothing to do with the class in order to finish semester grades. 

It’s only when he actually arrives at the studio that he remembers four and a half of the six and a half our practice is either just him, or him and one other person. 

Two weeks later on Saturday afternoon, he leaves the studio with dozens of new bruises all over his body, strange strains in all his muscles, and the biggest desire to actually sleep for once sense preparations for the show actually began. Of course, because of school, that is not something that he actually gets to do. He waves goodbye to Annie and Rachel as he sinks into Hunks car and curls up on himself as much as he can, mumbling a simple hello. Hunk pats his back before pulling out of the parking lot. 

“Are you sure you’re ok to study today bud? You’re looking fairly dead, no offense.”

“None taken, at all. But yeah, I gotta study today it’s not really an option to not. I have another math test  _ already  _ next week and don’t really know what’s going on.”

“Alright bud, don’t worry I’m sure you’ll get it down.”

“Actually,” says Lance, suddenly worried about bothering his friends, “It’s fine if you just want to take me home. I don’t want to be a burden on you and Pidge, you’ve been doing a lot for me on top of all your own stuff. I know I’m busy, but you are too so it’s not really fair that I keep coming to you for help and I just-”

Hunk cuts him off, “Lance. It’s no trouble really, you’d do the same for us, we know you would. We want to help, we love you.”

“Thanks, man.” 

They pull into Pidge’s driveway then and Lance tosses his dance bag into the bag and grabs his school bag that he left with Hunk after school the day before, knowing he wasn’t going to be getting any work done between then and now. Lance drags himself inside to see Pidge is already working on something so he slides into a corner and into his middle splits (to keep his legs from getting too stiff) and pulls out his history textbook and tries to read it. 

That’s the thing, he really was trying, he even had his whole sit in the splits to help him focus thing going, but apparently, it didn’t work. The next thing he registers is a voice saying, “There is no way that is comfortable.” and then the click of a camera.

He pulls his eyes open and unsticks his face from the pages of his textbook to blink up at Pidge and…. Keith?

“Ah!” Says Pidge, “Sleeping Beauty has awoken! It’s your lucky day Keithy boy, now we can go straight to math!”

Lance groans but the other boy just shrugs and sits down on the floor nearby. Pidge pauses a moment before sitting down as well. 

“Ok. So, what are you guys working on right now?”

“Staying awake.” Lance says with a yawn, “Also trig. Screw trig.” Then he pouts, chin in his hand.

“Ok, trig.” Pidge says in reply, then starts talking about triangles, the unit circle, quadrants, and a bunch of other stuff that would make sense if he  _ wasn’t so tired.  _ He lets out a small yawn and pouts further into his hand. 

Then, of course, he sees freaking  _ Keith  _ staring at him with pinched brows and quirked lips.

“What’re you lookin’ at pretty boy?” He asks, the words coming out a bit harsher than he intended. 

Keith just shrugged and looked back down at his assignment, attempting to do another problem as Pidge explained, leaving Lance to stare at him confused. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Lance!” Allura says the second he comes into the studio, “The others are all already putting on their costumes and makeup, so hurry quick ok?”

“Of course Allura, sorry I was late. School stuff.”

She nods and just pushes a costume bag into his hands before shoving him down the hallway. 

After yet another long week filled with tests, homework, and dance, most of the studio gets this Friday afternoon off - except for Lance and the other leads. Today is picture day, meaning that the leads all get to spend time getting into full hair, makeup, and costume in order to take pictures to advertise for the show.

Lance slips into studio A where his fellow leads are doing makeup and hair while listening to Beyonce. He plops down next to Nyma where she’s painting little whiskers on her cheeks, pinks and purple tones in her makeup, and her hair in two long dutch braids that fall down her back with pink bows tying the ends. 

He pulls out his makeup bag and starts doing makeup of his own, sticking with browns and tans. 

“Did they give you any specific makeup and hair or leave you to your own devices?” Nyma asks him a minute later as she clips in a pair of mouse ears. 

“They actually just left me to my own devices hair and makeup wise, and so I’m just going to stick with what's safe and simple.” He let out a nervous chuckle as he spoke. 

She smiled at him and then left the room with her costume bag in hand in order to change into her costume. By the time she comes back Lance has successfully blocked out most of what else was going on the room and finished his hair and makeup, maybe with a bit of room for touch ups. Nyma’s costume is adorable. She wears regular ballet pink pointe shoes and tights, with a peachy tan knee-length tutu and a light gray bodice, a brown ribbon neatly tied around her waist, the long ends draped down the back of her skirt. With the braids, pink bows, gray ears, and whisker’s, she looks a bit younger than normal. 

“So,” She says and does a small twirl, “How do I look?”

“Phenomenal, as always Nyma.” He replies with a wink. “Now, I must ask, what do you think I should touch up hair and makeup wise?”

She looks at him for a moment before shrugging. “I’ll go get Allura, she’ll know better what Coran wants.”

He nods and she turns and leaves the room again. He takes a moment to look around. Rachel has white fluffy ears sticking out from her hair, whatever is holding them on is hidden neatly in the brown strands that are pulled away from her face into an updo. Her outfit is all white, including pointe shoes, mens tights, a fitted textured white shir, and a tight white suit coat. When she turns there is even a fluffy puff of a tail sticking out from between the lapels. Her makeup is neutral in tans and browns, with a pink lipstick and little black freckles instead of whiskers. 

Ryans outfit has a light purple and gold cavalier style tunic along with white tights and a pair of slick cat ears, and when he smiles Lance sees he’s even wearing fake teeth. He isn’t sure if they’d be seen from stage, but it will certainly be cool for the pictures. 

Tyler wears all red. Red tunic, red tights, and red canvas flats. The tunic has white cuffs and a collar, as well as a thick white stripe down the center broken with a red heart. He wears a golden crown atop his short blonde curls. He even has harsh red lipstick and eyeshadow. 

Alex M. wears a yellow suit coat with vertical white stripes, a white button down with a yellow bow tie, and white white and yellow pinstripe pants and brown canvas flats. He has fluffy brown ears similar to Rachel’s white ones that seem to come straight out from his hair of an identical color, also like rachel he has a small puff of a tail, except, like the ears, his is in brown rather than white. The look is completed with a painted on nose and whiskers. 

Then finally Annie. The girl looks insane and amazing at the same time, which he supposes is the point. Her blonde hair has been died a nice lavender color, and is parted far to the right side of her hair, three corn row style braids take the hair on the right side of her head just back behind her ear. Everything else is in hectic, messy, tiny curls that must have taken forever to put in. Her makeup is also intense, with shades of green and pink for the eyes, and a bright blue lipstick. Her pointe shoes are purple, and she has black and white tights, a checkerboard pattern on her right leg and vertical stripes on her left. She wears a blue and dark purple pancake tutu with a blue bodice that has two stripes of dark purple framing the front of her chest, and while the bodice also looks to be laced up with dark purple ribbon, it is likely just using hooks. The left side of the bodice has no sleeve, while the right has a purple sleeve, and goes all the way down the arm, seamlessly connected with a glove the same color. and, finally, the dark green top hat she holds in her hands, with a dark pink band and a white card sticking out from it with the iconic “10/6.”

Realizing that his ability to see all the costumes means the everyone else is ready, while he isn't, makes his mouth feel a bit dry. He really doesn’t want to be the reason they have to wait around. 

Luckily Allura scurries in moments later, quickly followed by Nyma. 

“Lance! You’re looking amazing!” She turned to Nyma, “I’m thinking, add a dusting of glitter and a couple little touch ups? Sounds about like what Coran is looking for, yeah?”

The two girls quickly mob him, and less than 10 minutes later he’s being shoved out the door, costume bag in hand. Once in the bathroom he carefully pulls his shirt over his head, minding the makeup and hair, and slips out of his pants. Then he pulls the costume out of the bag. A baby blue elbow length button up with white cuffs, a neat white vest and a floppy black bow tie (pinned in place so it looks floppy, but doesn’t flop) for the top. Then baby blue tights and black pointe shoes for the bottom. 

He looks in the mirror only to see the glitter and makeup on his face, and his next breathe comes in a shudder as he remembers the day of his first outreach program. He’d performed in the morning hours and returned to his school later in the day, only to check out less than an hour later. He told his mom he had a stomach ache, but in reality, he left because he was made fun of by his fellow students for the makeup. Definitely  _ not  _ a good memory.

He shakes the thoughts of fear from his head. He wasn’t going to let memories get in his way, not when all the people in the other room were the ones who helped him through all that. He takes one more deep breath, and ducks out of the bathroom. 

His friends accepted him long ago.

Today, he fully embraces himself.

Tomorrow, hopefully, the world will too. 

 

 

* * *

 

  
  


“Ah, Lance!” Coran cries out the second Lance appears again, “You’re looking just how I imagined. Now, everyone, gather here please and thank you! It’s time!”

The rest of the group scurries over, including the little boy Roman, who Lance hadn’t seen earlier. Roman is only in the door scene, playing Alec when he shrinks, and then dancing with Lance before leaving for the rest of the show. Therefore his costume and makeup are nearly identical to Lance’s. Of course, he wears regular black flats rather than pointe shoes. 

Coran smiles at the assembled group. “Let’s see. I have a few ideas, especially after seeing you all dance, but I think I’m going to start with just Lance and Roman.” He walks towards the door. “I already have a couple simple things set up in the other room, so come with me boys. And Allura, while we’re gone set up the tea party scene in here.”

The boys quickly follow Coran down the hall and enter studio C. Which, at the moment, has all the mirrors covered with taught green fabric (both to block the mirrors and give a green screen), and a simple table set up with a single cupcake on top, a vanity mirror frame right in front of it. The table is tall and easily reaches Lances chest, with a black floor length tablecloth.

Coran bends over and turns on a fog machine Lance hadn’t noticed before and the room slowly starts filling with the whitish mist. “Ok,” the man says. “Roman, come over to this side of the table, you’ll look straight through the frame at Lance with a look of fear, we’ll even take a couple where you reach out and through it, just to see what we like.” The small boy scrambles up where Coran instructed. “Lance, you’ll be on this side of the table, leaning against it in b-plus, teeth deep in the cupcake and eyes closed.” the man pauses, looking around before reaching into his pocket, then sticks a toothpick with a long tag stating “eat me” into the top of the cupcake. Lance then picks it up and takes his position. “Alright boys, here we go.”

He clicks several dozen photos, calling out at times to ask them to change positions. Then they run back to studio A.

Next, Allura is sent into the studio C to move the table, cupcake, and mirror frame to replace it with a fake and sturdy tree while Lance and Roman follow Coran. Roman sits in the front of studio A with Tyler and Ryan, and Lance joins Annie, Nyma, Rachel and Alex over by the now familiar tea party supplies, set up in front of another wall of green.

“Let’s see….” Says Coran. “Ah. Yes. Let's set hanging from the table. Alex and Rachel take the starting pose, where she is leaning over. Yes. Then…. Annie, you hold onto Lance, and Lance you’ll kick and and flex one foot, arms out, surprised face. Leaning back off the table. You two come off the long end of the table. Then Nyma, stand between the two groups, up on relevé in demi-second, lean forward a bit and put your hands on your cheeks, mouth open.” The group quickly climbs the giant table to set up the pose. The camera clicks over and over, positions are adjusted a bit as needed, and then they’re all climbing down. 

Next Coran drags Ryan and Lance into studio C, the smoke machine now filling the room with white. “Ok, Ryan. Climb into the tree and lean down, make sure to smile big and creepy to show of the teeth. Lance, go to the tree and walk away a few steps, then walk in place so the movement looks more natural.”

Again and again Lance is dragged back on forth, while picture after picture is taken, but it’s fun. A lot of fun. For the first time in a long time, Lance finds himself not worrying about school or dance, just joking around with his friends as they do pose after pose. He honestly can’t wait for the results. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I only got one response in regards to the playlist, but [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoctVCdNdDY&list=PL6ysVxxC0rJxqp7CzrZT4ybIkw2KMTw2b) you can listen to their shows music if you so desire.  
> 2\. All those dance injury stories are factual, I was witness to them all. I was even one of them.  
> 3\. I love making up costumes oh my god.


	7. Chapter 7

Before he knows it Monday has rolled around once again. He follows Pidge and Hunk into the school and they find their way into the commons to find it empty, making this one of the few times the trio has ever gotten there before Allura. 

They sit down at their usual table, and Pidge rummages in their backpack before pulling out the dreaded robot from a few weeks prior. 

“Pidge,” Lance says, “If you decide to launch that  _ again, _ and it goes haywire  _ again. _ I am not planning on helping you get it back.”

The gremlin just sticks their tongue out at him and pulls out some tools before getting to work. Lance shakes his head but starts up a conversation with Hunk about a new class project. He was half asleep when the teacher assigned it, so he doesn't really remember what it's on, and well, he supposes that's what he has friends for. 

They've only just started talking about the grading rubric, and therefore how much work will actually be necessary, when Allura finally shows up. She slaps down a stack of posters in front of her, face down, and sits next to Lance. 

"Well!" She says in that chipper voice that only she can have this early in the morning. "It's official, tickets to _Alec in Wonderland_ are on sale today, so you dweebs better buy them soon if you want good seats."

Lance gasps, "Does that mean that-" 

Allura cuts him off, smacking the hand that was reaching out to grab a poster. "Yes, Lance. These are the posters. Can't you just  _ ask _ to see them like a normal person, for once?"

Lance is practically bouncing up and down in his seat at this point, and Pidge actually puts down their tools in order to pay attention. "Allura. Can I please, please see the posters?"

She smiles and flips over the top one, then the next, and the next, and the next. Coran had only chosen four to put on posters, the rest would go on social media and their websites. Having too many pictures bouncing around with the same advertisement could get confusing. 

Lance smiled at each one, seeing him and Roman, the tea party scene, and one of just Ryan, smiling creepily through the fog. Allura explains that she hung up all of the last version, and Lance would just have to find it on his own to see what was chosen.

"Oh my god!" Pidge cries out, "The costumes are simply amazing. Who made them?" 

"The same lady as always," Allura replies, "Madame something or other. She's been around so long I literally don't remember her name - because when I was little I thought Madame _was_ her first name and didn't pay attention to the rest."

The rest of them chuckle a bit at that, then Pidge looks to Hunk and says, "Alright, I just bought us tickets to opening night. You buy us dinner before the show?"

That sets the rest of them laughing again, Hunk simply nodding in reply. 

"Now." Pidge says, talking to Allura this time, "I'm asking permission to be nice, but I'm doing it either way. Can I hack into the website to track how many tickets are sold and who buys them?" Allura opens her mouth to respond, only to stop as Pidge keeps talking. "Alright, I'm already done. Thanks. Looks like Lance's family, and probably a couple other dancer’s families, and then no one from school yet. Which is not surprising considering we're all poor teenagers and the posters just barely went up."

Lance shakes his head, and at that moment the first bell rings, telling them they need to stand up and start heading to class. Lance waves goodbye and walks away, resigned to another day of boring classes, and probably staring at Keith. Maybe. Yeah, no. He was definitely going to stare at Keith. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh my god, Pidge!” Lance cried out as they stood outside after school. “He has a motorcycle! A motorcycle _! _ ”

Across the parking lot Keith, who had recently donned a helmet, was swinging a leg over a shiny red bike. Lance let out a squeak as the boy pulled out of the parking lot and his mom's van pulled in. 

He let out one more weak “A  _ motorcycle! _ ” before sliding into the front seat. 

As the door swung shut and he didn’t hear the words Pidge said as they held up their phone to Hunk, but those words were, “And, he also has a ticket to Lance’s show. I bet I know which poster he saw….”

Lance, blissfully unaware of what his friends were talking about, said hello to his mother. 

“Afternoon, mama!” He says with a smile. 

“Well someone finally has energy!” she says as they pull out of the lot and head for the studio. 

He grins wider, “They finally put up the posters today! They’re so cool! Pidge said so many people have already bought tickets, and three elementary classes have already signed up for the outreach day! And guess what, one of the posters was just me! The one I told you about, where I stood on the toes of one foot, my other leg raised all the way!” He lets out another sound of excitement, practically bouncing in his seat. 

His mom chuckles and the two continue to talk for the rest of the ride. Once they reach the studio he leans over to kiss her cheek and bounces out of the car, changing quick as he can and skipping into class. 

“Good afternoon everyone!” He calls out, getting a series of replies. 

“Lance!” Nyma cries out excitedly, “Did you see that poster? When did Coran take that one? It’s amazing!”

He grins and nods excitedly, but they’re stopped from talking as Coran walks in to start class. 

They go through the familiar routine to the best of their abilities, but there’s a common buzz throughout the class, each and every teen once again surrounded by the excitement of the coming spring show.

An hour and a half later Coran bursts out laughing, “You guys are ridiculous. You are so unfocused today! Were the posters really that great?”

Practically the entire class bursts out in excitement, and the last half hour of class just turns into a gossip session as the students discuss who has and hasn’t bought tickets, who is likely too, and who they really hope doesn't

The tea party scene rehearsal is a little bit more productive, Coran adding in even more tricks and flips. And of course, the throwing around of both Lance and Nyma. 

_ Thud _ Lance hits the ground hard. “Oh no! Lance I’m sorry!” Alex cries out. Nyma flinches, while Annie and Rachel run over from where they’d just used their combined strength in order to throw him to Alex. 

The move  _ would  _ be really cool if they could get it down, Lance jumping (without making it look like he does) while the two girls give him momentum so he can fly high and far, hit a middle split in midair, and then be caught by Alex. Only problem, they couldn’t consistently get Lance going on the same trajectory, causing Alex to rarely be able to actually catch him. 

Lance pulls himself to a sitting position and reaches out, Alex taking his hand and pulling him to stand. Then Lance stretches and pops a bunch of his joints, then walks back over to Annie and Rachel. “Let’s go again?” He asks.

“Lance!” Both the girls cry out, “You’ve hit the ground like 15 times!” 

“Yeah yeah,” he says, “Let’s go.” He swings his arms back and forth, bending his legs a bit - exaggerating how ready he is to do it again, by a lot. He hurts literally everywhere. 

“Lance.” Coran says from the front, “Perhaps they’re right, you’ve hit the ground a lot. We’ll come back to it next time.”

“No!” Lance says, “Coran, please. We all know that if we don’t get it today, we won’t put it in the routine.”

“Lance, you’re going to break something.” Annie practically pleads.

He frowns and looks at his toes. “I know we can figure it out, just a couple more tries!”

Coran stands up, “Really, I promise we’ll work on it next time. I won’t cut it.”

The kids all nod and they move on in the scene. Then hours later, when Lance finally makes it home, he has to suffer his way through two pages of math. At this point, the only good thing about school is that it’s his only way to see Keith regularly. 

Man, he really had it bad for that boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took me a little while, there's been a lot of life stuff going on. Thanks for waiting!   
> Also, [this](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/04/9e/fd/049efdb8d9710f848fa916f6d3ee4f07.jpg) inspired Lance's poster pose, if you're interested!


	8. Chapter 8

“Good morning everyone! Lance here, representing Altea Dance Studio!” He smiles into his phone as him and his friends pull into the school, recording himself for the studios Instagram story. “As you all probably know, it’s that time of year where we start promoting our show in order to get everyone interested! This year, we’re doing  _ Alec in Wonderland! _ \- a gender-bent version of the iconic  _ Alice in Wonderland!  _ So make sure you get tickets! The link is in our bio! Hugs and kisses!” He blows a kiss to the camera, stops recording and posts it, then they all step out of the car. 

“Lance!” Pidge cries out, “That was so hard, I had to be so quiet!”

He laughs, “Don’t worry, now that I’ve introduced it I can post basically anything, I’ll let you be in the next one.”

Pidge huffs, but concedes with a nod. Lance looks around a bit and sees a lot of people wearing red, a few people exchanging gifts, and a kissing couple. His breath catches in his throat. “Pidge.” He says, stopping in his tracks, “What’s the date?”

They too look around, horror slowly growing on their face. “Dear God.”

Hunk laughs and puts a hand on each of their backs, guiding them to the school. “That’s right you two, today is February 14. Valentines Day.”

Pidge actually screams and tries to run, but Hunk just picks them up by their backpack and their legs flail in the air uselessly. Lance just groans, slumping into Hunks hand. “Yet another Valentines day where I’m single. Without love.  _ Forever alone. _ ” 

“Oh my god, guys.” Hunk says, “Look. You’ll live. I made sure to bring you both candy, and I’m sure Allura did too. You can chill.”

They walk into the school and Hunk finally lets the gremlin to the floor. The second Hunk looks away, both Lance and Pidge book it down the hall the other way. On Valentines morning, the commons is the last place you want to be, so many gifts, kisses, and frankly  _ discrimination _ against the single people of the world. 

“Wait. Pidge.” Lance says as soon as they’re out of sight of Hunk, “We should stream this. Maybe someone will reply and then like, ask me to be their Valentine. That’s not too far fetched, right? Maybe Nyma?”

Pidge laughs, and Lance whips out his phone. 

“Hello again my friends!” He says as he turns it on and the two slide into a corner. “This here is my friend Pidge, and before you ask Pidge is  _ not  _ a dancer.” Pidge waves and adjusts their glasses. “So, what we both didn’t realize earlier, is that today is  _ Valentine's day!  _ And, we don’t know about you guys, but neither of us has ever had a date on this day in the past, and that still stands true today.”

Pidge nods and starts talking, “So, maybe this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but this is  _ Highschool _ . We got here not even five minutes ago and I’ve already seen five couples kissing!” They pull the phone close to their face and say, “This is  _ Torture! _ ”

Lance laughs and pulls it back, “Well, to all the other single people out there, we wish you luck. And to all those with a relationship, seeing a ballet is a  _ great  _ idea for a date, and I know one that is going to be amazing that comes out in just three months!” He winks at the camera and shuts it off. Then slouches into Pidge. They sit in silence for a moment before he has a sudden realization.

“Pidge, do you think you can hack the school website and find out Keith’s locker number?”

The grin that grows on his friends face really should scare him, but he’s too excited to care.

 

 

* * *

 

 

By lunchtime, Lance is buzzing with nerves. He clutches a heart-shaped note in his hands, thinking over the words one more time while he waits for Pidge to arrive. 

 

_ Dear Keith,  _

_ I can’t build up the courage to say this to your face, but I think that you should know. You caught my eye a short while ago, and haven’t lost it since. I think you’re cute, and mysterious too. Oh, how I wish you were my Valentine. _

 

_ Signed,  _

_ Your Secret Admirer.  _

 

That worked, right? Or did it sound more like a grade school crush? Yeah, no. He couldn’t do this. He moves to crumple the note when someone suddenly grabs his wrist.

“You ready Lancey Lance?” Pidge sing songs.

He shakes his head, panic filling his eyes. “Nope. No way. I changed my mind.” He can feel himself shaking as Pidge stares into his eyes. 

“Ok.” They say, oddly calm and reassuring. “If it’s going to cause you this much panic, just put the note in your bag. You can think about doing it after school.”

He nods and they sit down together, pulling out their lunches. He slides the note into his bag and pulls his phone out from the depths where it had slid earlier that day. 

He had a text from his mom.

 

_ Something came up and I won’t be able to get you to dance after school. I came by and put your bag in your locker, please ask Hunk to give you a ride. _

 

_ Ok mama, _ he replies,  _ When you have the chance can you tell me what’s going on? _

 

A few minutes later she sends the thumbs up emoji in response and he puts his phone back down, turning to Hunk who had shown up while he was distracted. 

“Hey buddy, I don’t really know what's going on, but my mom was wondering if you could get me to the studio after school today?”

He nods, “Yeah, I can do that. I have to talk to a teacher after school though, so you might have to change here before we head out so you aren’t late to class.”

He nods back and they both go back to their lunches. At some point he pulls out his phone again, recording another clip, this time with Hunk and Allura along with Pidge. They make a couple of jokes, and remind the audience to buy tickets. They’d gotten a few replies to the previous story, so Lance adds one with a poll; saying “would you date me? Yes or No?” Which makes Allura laugh and shake her head, before pulling out her own phone and voting “No” and laughing at his offended face. 

Then the bell rings and they all run off to class, Lance not noticing the paper heart that flutters to the floor from his half-open bag. 

Halfway through the last class of the day however, he does notice, and his heart starts pounding. He whips out his phone, hiding it under his desk.

 

_ Pidge. The note. It’s gone. _

 

**_You’re actually kidding. You lost it?_ **

 

_ I didn’t mean to. I’m freaking out.  _

 

**_You’ll be ok. You said you didn’t sign your name right? So if you just dropped it somewhere, no one will know. You’re fine. Deep breaths._ **

 

_ You’re right. I guess. I really hope it doesn’t find its way to his hands… _

 

**_Ok. But I gotta pay attention. This is a hard class. Love you, try not to panic._ **

 

_ Love you too.  _

 

He puts his phone back into his bag and attempts to take notes some more. Then, before he knows it, the school day is over. 

Pulling out the phone to check the poll results so far, and make another clip, he makes his way through the crowded hallway to his locker. 

“Wow guys, 70% of voters would date me! I honestly wasn’t expecting that.” He starts putting in his locker combo and keeps talking. “Well, I don’t know about you guys, but this has been a crazy -” He stops talking as a folded piece of paper falls from his locker. “What the heck?” He bends to pick up the note, accidentally letting go of the recording button. He unfolds the paper and reads:

 

_ Dear Lance, _

_ I can’t help but notice your smile. Every time a grin splits your face the entire world gets a bit brighter. Then I see your eyes, deep and sparkling how I imagine the sea. I wish you could know just what you do to me, you make my heart pound every time you are near. Yes, you, Lance MccLain, have captured my heart. _

 

_ Much love, _

_ Anonymous. _

 

Underneath this, there is a pencil drawing of him, from the chest up. He’s leaning forward on a table, probably a desk, his head in his hand, the other resting on the desk. The long sleeves of his jacket nearly cover his hand, and messy hair sticks out from a beanie. And the expression on his face is… amazing. Lance didn’t know he could look so  _ happy,  _ his eyes seem to literally sparkle as he clearly laughs at  _ something. _

His jaw drops open and he quickly fumbles for his phone. He posts the video, grabs his dance bag, slams the locker, and runs down the hall while dialing Pidge.

“PIDGEON!” He screams as soon as they answer, then he talks so fast his words blend together, “SOMEONELEFTALOVENOTEINMYLOCKERANDIMFREAKINGOUTWHODOYOUTHINKITWAS?”

“Lance. Calm down. Seriously. Deep breaths. I can  _ see  _ you plowing down the hallway through the poor freshman.”

They were not wrong, within only moments Lance has barrelled his way into the commons and slammed into Pidge, a manic grin on his face. 

“Do you know what this means, Pidgeon?”

“Yeah. You’re a maniac. Seriously. You flirt all the time, why is this such a big deal?” They kinda chuckle as they speak.

Lance sighs, “Because, Pidge, this is one of the first time someone has  _ really  _ flirted with me. Sure people joke flirt all the time because they think  _ I’m  _ joking. This is new.” He adds the rest in a mumble, “And they drew a picture of me.”

They smile and pull the note from his hands, looking at it themselves, “Well, I’m happy for you. Also, any chance you can hang up the phone?”

He laughs and clicks it off. Then remembers he needs to change and is bursting down the hallway again, leaving a laughing Pidge behind. 

Before he knows it, it's 6 o’clock and he’s once again being thrown around the room. For the most part, the group has gotten down the toss they learned a couple classes ago, but it’s still a little bit hit or miss. Lance, of course, refuses to let it be cut, so Coran choreographed two transitions, one for where they land it (which is what they’re all hoping to use) and the other for if Lance hits the ground on stage. 

“Alright!” Coran says, “let’s run this from the top!” 

They all nod excitedly. They’ve learned about two and a half complete minutes of the just over four-minute song, and it’s already really intense. Granted, they’ve learned most of the tricks that come later on in the song - they just haven’t learned the transition choreography yet. 

The music starts and Lance wrestles his hat, Nyma comes out of the teapot, and then. as if acting in a chain reaction, things get crazier and crazier, each of them pausing at points to ‘drink’ sips of imaginary tea. They have a moment of congo ballroom dancing, all the girls lined up facing one way the boys the other. They’re constantly climbing the chairs and table only to jump or ‘fall’ moments later. Lance and Nyma get tossed and pushed off three times in a row, Annie does a flip of the table then Alex picks her up over his shoulder. Nyma ends up in the teapot. Lance ends up in the teapot. 

In all honesty, Lance is in the scene and doesn’t know half the things that are going on. He knows what he’s doing and a few other things and that’s about it. One of his favorite parts involves Alex and Annie fighting over the teapot, and when Lance tries to break them up it simply ends with him in a lift above the two in the middle splits, and Nyma snags the teapot, runs under Lance between the other two and into the giant teapot. That section alone only takes about 15 seconds and ends with Lance deposited on the table. 

The finish the run through of the routine and Coran lets out a shout of delight. They hit every lift and trick on count, and safely.

“You guys!” He cries out, “It’s going to be phenomenal! I’m beyond proud!” The group of panting teens smile and high-five each other, then the man says, “Let’s run it again!” And they all groan, before running back to their starting positions to hear the start of the music. 

However, before Coran can press play Lance calls out, “Wait! We should video a clip and boomerang it for the story!”

The other teens cry out in agreement and Coran waves his hand, letting Lance know he can run and grab his phone.

The result catches Lance midflight, legs down to explode outward, then it boomerangs back pulling his legs in and he falls back.

The entire scene decides that needs to be a weekly occurrence until the show - one of their tricks boomeranged in the middle. They run through the routine a few more times, and clean a couple spots, then their studio time is out and Lance goes to hip hop and tap, where they’re starting to learn their routines for the general show.

Like most nights for the past month, Lance collapses in exhaustion right when he gets home. He lies in bed thinking about the homework assignments he has in his bag, and calculates the points each is worth, seeing if it’s worth it to put a lot of time and effort in or if he can bs his way through it and hope for the best. 

He doesn’t know how long he’s been home when his mom walks into the room, a plate of chicken and salad in her hands. He sits up and smiles, then she sits him down and encourages him to keep working until he finally finishes each assignment. Even the ones he had been planning to skip on the assumption they weren’t worth much. 

That night his mom tucks him into bed, just like when he was little, and tells him how proud she is of the effort he’s putting into both school and dance. Promising that she will always be there to help when it gets to be too much. 

He smiles and closes his eyes, drifting into sleep as he feels her lips on his forehead. Then, like always, his thoughts turn to Keith. The boy's small smile, his laugh, the darn sketchbook he always seems to have in hand.

_ Oh My God. _

 

The sketchbook.

 

The note.

 

The drawing.

 

The love note, that had a drawing, that was done  _ on sketchbook paper. _

 

There was no way.

 

Was there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my goodness I love you all! Thank you for your sweet comments!
> 
> Also, uh, my friend found this soooooo.... hi Ghosty! <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has the general show! Yay! I've included songs and artists because, if you feel like finding them on Spotify or youtube or whatever, it could help you get the feel of the routines!

The next couple of months absolutely  _ flew _ by. Hunk, Pidge, and himself each tried to find who the note was from. The two of his friends practically stalked Keith (the poor boy) trying to catch a glimpse into his sketchbook to see if the art style matched, but he turned out to be  _ really  _ good at keeping it private.

Lance spends nearly all his time at the studio, and as it gets closer to the show, at the stage. As it neared the end of April, the note was forced from his mind due to his dance schedule. He never got home before 11 anymore, never falling asleep until hours later when he finished most of his homework. Saturdays were the worst though, his dance day starting at 8 in the morning and only ending late that night around 10, making him miss study group after study group. 

(as for that day a while ago when Hunk had to take him to dance, his sister had fallen at recess and they thought she broke her arm, but she was fine.) 

In all honesty, Lance knew his exhaustion was showing, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Pidge and Hunk were clearly worried, but he continued to assure them that he was fine, and when Allura assured that we was, in fact, going to be fine they finally conceded. Pidge gave him daily ticket sale updates, which was fun, and by the week before opening night, two of the three nights were sold out, and the general show only had about 30 tickets left. 

Speaking of the general show, Lance was beyond excited for his routines.

Before he knew it, he was backstage and in costume for his first general show routine - lyrical. In all honesty, though, he should really say ‘tights’ rather than ‘costume’ because that’s all his costume actually was - a pair of thick, black, footless, mens tights. Top not included. Shoes not included. Which, while he  _ had  _ been a bit nervous at first, he was now pretty excited for. With all the dance and healthy eating he'd been doing, he looked  _ good -  _ his lean dancer muscles showing in his tanned skin. 

He rolled out his neck and clasped his hands behind his back, pulling down until he felt the ever-satisfying  _ pop  _ between his shoulder blades. He jumps up and down to warm his feet and shakes his hands to rid his nerves. Coran waves to him and sends him a wink before sliding out onstage in front of the curtain to begin welcoming everyone to the show. Cuing Lance and the other dancers to lower into their stretches. Right now, his lyrical class was the only one near the wings. Some older dancers were in the dressing rooms, but all the younger dancers were in the green room, waiting their turn to be dragged backstage before their routine. 

Lance does his best to tune everything out and just roll through his stretches and relax his breathing. He feels a hand on his back and looks up to see Nyma and her black tulle dress. He nods and smiles, and slowly his class makes their way onstage. 

Their beginning position is basically the nine of them (himself and 8 girls) huddled close in a messy circle. They settle in a whisper quiet “good luck”s and “I love you all”s before the curtain slowly opens and the stage is backlit - revealing their shape in silhouette to the audience. Each and every one of them knows this routine is going to pull on  _ a lot  _ of heartstrings, and at first, the small class debated even doing it. A dance about suicide is  _ always  _ a big deal. In the end, clearly, it was decided they should. It’s an amazing routine, and shows off a bit of his non-dancing-friends coding skills, which everyone had thanked the two for many times over…

_ One More Light:  Linkin Park. _

 

_ The music starts and the group sways ever so slowly until the first swells in the music, 8 counts in. One group of three has four counts to break off from the group as their costumes, and by a result, silhouettes light up. The next group of three has the 5678 of the phrase to do the same. Then the last three, including Lance have their turn and by the next 5678 the group of 9 stands across the stage in a line with Lance on center, the only one  _ not  _ lit up. The group stands for a moment, suspended on their toes, as enough of the stage lights turn on to light their fronts, yet not degrade the effect of their costume lights, before collapsing into the pedestrian like movement around the stage, slowly closing into a circle on center stage, maneuvering Lance to the center of the circle to do an extension - one leg raised high, balanced on his toes and reaching his hands as the words of the song begin and the rest of the group bends low. He comes down after the first three words and the whole group subtly preps for a triple pirouette on the next three and then one arm, then the other arm reach reach fall into a roll through the next three to be followed by more quick pedestrian style movement. _

_ By the next set of words the group has separated again, Lance and Nyma pull on either side of another girl before Lance pulls her away into a quick lift up and around, his hands on her hips, her legs tucked and arms reaching on the word “ _ hurt _ ” and he puts her down to spin away on “ _ anymore. _ ” Then more pedestrian style movement.  _

_ The next words “ _ We saw brilliance, when the world, was asleep _ ” have a prep,  _ _ pirouette _ _ , chassé. “ _ There are things, _ ” brings them all back to center, “ _ we can have,”  _ pulls the same girl as before inward, “ _ but can’t keep _ ” tosses her lightly into the air away from the group. _

_ She comes running back with the next phrase, and the group creates a chaos of choreographed movement to prep for a lift. Two girls lift the earlier girl under the arms, another by the foot to have her in the air on the word “ _ light _ ” - only for the lights in her costume to flicker out. She’s let down and the girls reach for her but she runs to Lance, and monkey jumps, wrapping her arms and legs round him pulling the two into a spin away from the others. 2 in darkness. 7 in light. The group, now separated distinctly in two, does the exact same movements, mirroring each other. The group of 7 stage left doing left sided movement while Lance and the girl do the same movements, in sync with the others, on stage right with their right side. Turns and jumps until Lance and the girl stop and chaine closer while the other group fouettes before the next mention of lights going out - for when the song says the line again another lit dancer literally falls out of her fouette turns as her lights flash out, only to be dragged away by Lance and the girl who pull her up and into a hug. The other dancers chassé as she’s being dragged away, only to seemingly hit a wall that stops them as the singer says “ _ I do.”

_ Choreographed chaos ensues again as the three darkened dancers move forward along with one lit dancer and do turns while the other 5 run off stage. The small front group dances, the lit girl still clearly separated and the movement quickly switches as the darkened dancers stop and ‘pull’ an invisible rug at the words “ _ pull the floor from our feet _ ” seemingly causing the lit girl to fall backward. The other dancers have quickly returned to the stage, bringing 9 stools (one for each dancer) with them, but now the unlit dancers leave the stage. The 6 still shining girls turn and use the stools, the extras in the middle of the stage, unused. “ _ In the kitchen, one more chair than we need.”

_By this point, Lance and a couple of the girls are crying. Dancing a routine like this takes_ a lot _of raw_ _emotion._

_ The darkened dancers make it back onstage to the center, all 9 dancers making a line across the front and dancing in sync again, movements bigger and more powerful than before, until one of the darkened girls breaks from the rest, trying to get attention from the lit dancer next to her. “ _ Just cause you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. _ ” Moments later that girls lights go out with the same phrase “ _ Who cares if one more light goes out”  _ and the rest of the dancers fall out of sync. The freshly darkened girl falling into the arms of the one that had been trying for her attention. The darkened group, now containing 4, is once again moved to stage right, the light to stage left, and the groups pick up mirroring movement. Then exactly the same as the chorus before another girl goes dark and is dragged away and chased. The chasing girls acting more desperately now. Only 4 left, less than half.  _

_ The movement of the dancers becomes even bigger, power building as the emotion in both the room and the song does. They dance into the next chorus, another girl going dark. Then another.  _

_ The last two shining girls are clearly desperate now, and at some point, the emotions got to them too - tears rolling down their faces. (really good thing the studio required waterproof makeup for the show.)  _

_ Finally, the dance ends with the 7 darkened dancers walking off stage separate ways, the two left lit collapsing in each other's arms right on center stage, the stage lights dimming again to leave the only lights left in the entire room those from their costumes. _

 

The music fades away and the audience breaks out in applause. The lights come back up and all the dancers make their way back onstage to make a quick bow, beaming at the audience. They hold hands and do the dramatic stage bow twice before dropping their arms and running from the stage past the little girls waiting in the wings for their turn as they rush to change into their next costume. Even though he doesn’t have a lot of time, Lance makes sure to hug each of the 8 girls and whisper that he loves them before moving into the boys dressing room.

Lance has four routines before his next one and he quickly changes into his tap costume. Ripped black jeans (luckily tap doesn’t require a lot of flexibility), a gray t-shirt, and a blue flannel over the top - unbuttoned and rolled to his elbows. Then he checks his hair and makeup before grabbing his tap shoes. He waits until the routine right before his to slide into his entrance wing and sit on the side, pulling on his shoes and tying them. He winks at his friend Julie who is putting her shoes on next to him and wearing a similar costume. His tap class is much more even gender-wise than his lyrical class, having three boys and five girls, the class containing eight in total. 

 

_ Waiting For My Time To Come:  Colony House. _

 

_ This time, the class starts off stage. They each wait until the first two prominent notes, then do slow steps onto the stage from different wings and facing different ways. A slow shuffle and a step in time with the beat in the music.  _

_ Similar to the lyrical routine, a lot of the movement is a pedestrian style. Each dancer having a carved out path and steps without it looking like they do. Turns, beats, and poses over every inch of the stage until they finally come into an arched formation. _

_ The words “ _ I’m just waiting for the seasons to change _ ” is where the routine brings the dancers all in sync for the first time. A perfect chorus of tapping toes and heals to add a new level to the song, but still fairly quiet. “ _ I’m waiting for my time to come _ ” brings them all to a suspended freeze before they’re moving again with the next words of the song. This time moving in pairs, in sync with the one person, their taps becoming a bit louder.  _

_ “ _ To how much it may cost _ ” brings them back into a formation, this time one in front, then a row of two, a row of three, then another row of two. With the chorus, they do the same flowy movement, slightly bigger. As the words at the end of the chorus repeat the group moves inwards to form another clump towards center stage, feet always moving and sounding off, relaxed and playful grins on their faces.  _

_ With the next phrases of the music the group slowly spreads out, feet flying in sync with a satisfying click, their feet pick up speed and the moves get more and more complex. On the final “ _ oh _ ” of the wordless section, the group spiral turns around three times to freeze front, legs out leaning forward,  for a small moment before “ _ It seems so complicated _ ” sends their feet back into flying action. Arms moving and laughter on their faces.  _

_ The music dies down a bit again and the group moves back to a pyramid style formation - Lance front, two behind him, then three, then two - with shuffle steps so they make it neatly, facing back, “ _ Wait here when the light is low _.” They fall into unified movements through the chorus, feet moving in a blur yet creating sound exactly on tempo.  _

_ At the end of the chorus as the singer slows and says “ _ waiting…. For my time…..”  _ the group moves their arms slowly, reaching the peak right before the singer holds out, “ _ to come”  _ and the group flips to face front and pose in a ripple, Lance first, going low, the two girls behind him a little higher, the next three higher still, and the back two boys on their toes. Then as one, they fall into the next moves, feet moving and clicking faster when the music calls for it, and pausing for small moments to add extreme musical dynamics right up to the end of the song where they sink to sit in relaxed looking poses on the floor as the music fades away. _

 

Applause and cheers take its place as they stand, make a row, grab hands, and stage bow before waving and running from the stage.

Lance once again hugs his classmates and runs to change, having only another four quick dances before he has to be back on stage for hip hop. Black high tops, black leggings with two golden horizontal rings around the left calf, a short sleeve black button-down with a golden pattern on the left side, a gold stripe before the buttons, and then solid black until the two gold rings of the right sleeve. Then a black beanie to top it off. 

He slips out of the dressing room with the other boys and together they great the girls, this time 3 and 3. (What can he say, even though Altea is the best studio around, most kids only follow it to the top in ballet rather than the others styles.) All the boys run around to the other side of the stage to enter there when the music starts. 

 

_ COPYCAT: Billie Eilish _

 

_ One boy and one girl start right with the music, stepping right foot, rolling their left arm to a square in front of their chest, pulling it out, and repeating for the other side. Steeping four times and getting equal distance onstage, and facing front. The next two come on as the words start, “ _ Don’t be cautious, don’t be kind. _ ” They move forwards slowly, reaching one arm, then the next and then sliding themselves forward. The two that had already been onstage doing the movement side to side, towards and away from each other. This repeats four times, until the words “ _ Push my button anytime _ ” where the kids already there pulse their chests and the newcomers turn to face front. All four pose, right hand grabbing the left wrist low in front of them, standing in a wide stance and looking down. Next is Lance’s turn. Him and the last remaining girl take off with the next words, running three steps into a roundoff into a back full to land next to each other on center on “ _ You got your finger on the trigger but your trigger fingers mine _ ” then Lance and the girl turn forward and hit the same pose as the others, everyone looking up on the following pulse of music. The formation is at diagonals, the girl in front of the two other boys, and Lance at the front of the two other girls.  _

_ The two separate halves of the formation start mirroring movement, kicks, extensions, body rolls, and the sort up through “ _ Everybody knows my name _ ” where Lance’s side of the formation slides back and the other side slides forward. Now the two groups face each other, doing lower, sharper movement than before. The two groups move towards each other, each person grabbing the neck of the person across from them to rotate around them and slide into a single line by the end of “ _ the same things I did _ ” Lance in front, then a girl, boy pattern behind him. The word “ _ Copycat _ ” has an extremely quick jump ripple, started in front and flying back through the line, Lance landing with his feet wide, and each person behind him bringing their own slightly inward from there.  _

_ “ _ Cop my glamor _ ” has the boys snaking their chests to the right, then left, the girls doing the opposite - creating an every other person switch - “ _ Watch your back _ ” has the boys and girls rotating and switching places again, the girl now in front of Lance and the same throughout, fixing their feet to the same pattern and repeating the snaking movement for the words “ _ Can’t watch mine. _ ” _

_ The next words bring arms in, choreographed just slightly off from front to back to create the desired effect. Each pair rotates again for “ _ can’t have mine _ ” to end again with the boys in front, this time everyone's feet together all the way through the line.  _

_“_ Call me calloused _” has the boys turn to face stage left and the girls to face stage right “_ call me cold _” has the two groups slide backward away from each other “_ You're italic _” has both groups turn to face front and slide away from each other at the same time “_ I'm in bold _” has both groups doing axel turns away from each other.  “_ Call me cocky” _is a rotation to face the other group with feet planted, “_ watch your tone” _ _they all face front again “__ better love me _ _” has a_ run run _towards each other, then they_ __chaîné_ _chaîné_ _to aerial through each other on “_ clone _” (they had to be very careful to keep the exact spacing of the line so they could aerial through the spot they originally moved from.)_

_ The group does sharp and low movements out to a formation with the boys to stage left and the girls to stage right, front row of two girls and Lance, the back row of two boys on either side of Lance and a girl between the other two. The entire next chorus of the song has the girls dancing a purposeful two counts behind the boys, to have the 'copycat' style to the song. The sharp movements include jumps into lunges, arms, quick feet, body rolls, snaking movements, and even a backflip the end the phrase on “ _ mine _ ,” having the girls skip the last step so all six flip and land in sync. _

_ With the next words of the song, the style of the music turns more towards lyrical. Four of the dancers freeze, and Lance and the girl he flipped onstage with move forward to dance a quick lyrical style section together. A couple turns, a tour jet _ _ é, and even a quick turning lift, the girl above Lance’s head, before the turn and face each other and do a chest pump on “ _ Sike _.” _

_ Once again for the chorus, the two groups have choreographed separate timing, this time the girls two counts ahead of the boys. More body rolls, crazy feet, whole body snake-like movement and more. Then the boys skip the girls' last step so everybody can turn together and death drop on the final “ _ mine _.” _

 

The teens stay on the floor for a minute, gasping for air as the audience screams and cheers. Then they - gracefully - force themselves to their feet and run forward to a line, grasping hands and stage bowing then running off stage with a wave. Lance hugs his class and runs back into the dressing room for another change during the four dances between this one and his next one. Jazz.

This costume is metallic black high waisted leggings, and a fitted, cropped, metallic blue, short sleeve, zip-up jacket. He wears black jazz shoes and fixes his hair before grabbing a black stick cane. His jazz class is his largest other than his ballet with 15 people, 6 boys (including himself) and 9 girls. All the costumes are identical, but they (obviously) fit the girls a bit differently. 

 

_ Friend Like Me:  Ne-Yo _

 

_ This time the group starts onstage in three rows of five, spaced so that everyone can be seen in the ‘windows’ (spaces between the dancers in front of them) and facing the back - feet together and cane hidden by their bodies.  _

_ Before the music starts a line from the movie “ _ Aladdin _ ” plays, the Genie saying “ _ Oh! 10,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck! _ ” then a moment of his laughter and the music starts. The five closest to center start first, swinging their canes round to the right side, bringing their left arm up and popping their left leg, the looking to the left and back to the back. Then the five on stage right do the same, then lastly the five on stage left. Then they run round their canes still planted on the floor, do a quick  _ _ pirouette and then a ripple starting stage right has each person swinging their cane around twice with their right hand before planting it firmly. Then they all hop to face the back so they can turn forward, dragging their right foot and cane held horizontal in both hands, on the “ _ oh. _ ” Then they do silent time steps (no tap shoes) with first their right leg, then left, then walk forward and pivot back then pivot front. Then they tilt their canes down and up as they step to the right two times, then “ _ Brand of magic _ ” has them piqué to face the back “ _ Never fails _ ” has them bring the can above their heads and shift from one hip into the other and back. Then they turn to a diagonal and step kick and swing their cane four times, then the turn forward and place the cane down both hands on top, feet wide, and shift from hip to hip three times and do a back attitude hop/turn step around to face front again. Then they scuff slide to the right twice, once the cane horizontal above their heads and once down by their hips. Then “ _ all you gotta do is rub that lamp _ ” has them use their right hand to swing the cane around and out, then around and back up over their shoulders.  _

_“_ Mr. Aladdin, sir _” has them bring the cane forward, a hand near either end and it horizontal again for a step pirouette step double. Then they rock step into a fan kick and pull their leg into a high turned in passe, the canes now straight up and down. Then they sauté arabesque_ _to the right of the stage, step behind step in front still moving right, then chassé to the left and tour jet_ _é._

_ “ _ No, no, no _ ” Has them form three circles, then they do two piques and a quick cane trick before separating into two groups. About half going all the way stage right and about half going all the way upstage. The group that went stage right does a  _ _ chassé facing stage left, then a leap the spins them to face straight forward in midair. They then do a chaîné turn into an illusion. This happening on “ _ Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service, you’re the boss, the king, the shah. _ ” Then, the group from the back goes step touch side, step touch side, step step passe jump, land, plant the cane and arch back with a hand flourish on “ _ Say what you wish, it's yours! True dish, how about a little more baklava? _ ”  _

_ Then everybody runs back into another formation and does a toe, heel step first with right leg, then left leg, hitting the cane to the floor every other beat. Then they jet _ _ é right, then saut de basque left and another  _ _ sauté _ _ to switch the feet. Next, they passe and fall to the right, pulling the canes horizontal and up around over their heads, a ripple from stage right has them all hitting different random poses. A quick tilted corkscrew turn and they run forward and place their canes down before organized chaos takes them into three groups. 6 downstage and stage left, 6 upstage and stage right, then three very upstage in the middle, this is where Lance is.  _

_ “ _ Can your friends do this? _ ” has the frontmost group doing extremely fast chaîné turns across the stage. “ _ Can your friends to that? _ ” has the stage right group do a weird fancy backward dance run across the stage. “ _ Can your friends pull this, out their little hat? _ ” Has the middle-ish group do three huge quick leaps diagonally forward. “ _ Can your friends go poof! _ ” Has them all doing three quick fouetté turns.  _

_ They move into one line and link up to do a quick jumping kickline, and a few ripples from one end to the other. Then finally on “ _ All you gotta do is rub like so _ ” they subtly prep for lifts that take three girls up by three lifters, one under each arm and a third lifting one leg while the girl lifts her other up. Each girl laying flat in the air, one leg pulled to passe. The remaining three do another lift, Lance pulled up to balance in his middle splits (it’s a good lift, why not use it a lot.) And then with each lift up in the air they rotate, both within each individual lift and around the stage until “ _ Mr. Aladdin, sir _ ” has each liftee thrown high into the air and then caught in a basket hold where they’re then spun out to their one feet. _

_ The next and final section is insanely fast kicks, jumps, turns, and a few toss style lifts. Getting faster and faster, and more and more chaotic (but in a choreographed way) until the final “ _ never had a friend like me _ ” has 5 people sliding to the ground and forward across the stage while 5 do a backflip and the last 5 do a roundoff into a back full.  _

 

Once again, the group is gasping for air after the intensity of the dance, and they pause for a moment before running forward and grasping hands to do a stage bow and then run off. At this point, there are four more dances until Lance’s last, which also happens to be the last of the show. He hugs his class quickly, and then he grabs Ryan and the two change into their  _ Alec in Wonderland Costumes  _ to do the first duet they do in that show. It’s kind of a big deal, because this is the only ballet dance shown in the general show, and it encourages those there that don’t already have tickets to buy tickets to the ballet the following weekend. 

When the show is finally over, Lance changes from his costume and cleans the rest of them up, pulling on warm-ups ups and running out to see his friends and family that came to support him. They all cheer and hug. Lance gets more flowers than he knows what to do with. And of course, his mom makes him take pictures with every single person there. 

At one point he thinks he sees black hair and a red jacket, but as he quickly gets pulled into another picture her can’t  _ really  _ be sure...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this chapter took me forever and a day! I've had a lot of dance myself and also got super sick. Then I had to choreograph three and a half of those routines in my head, (I actually do friend like me for my jazz class, but we've only learned like half) and it's like 4:30 in the mourning as I finish writing this so. that's a thing. I hope this all makes sense!  
> But! This chapter was a lot of fun to write and I hope you guys enjoy the read! Also.... find my writing Tumblr [right here](http://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/) please check it, it would mean a lot!  
> Love you all and thanks for reading!  
> And, hey, if you wanna check out the dance routines I looked at for inspiration... here they are (honestly BLESS World of Dance)   
> [tap routine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fD7EknM5AM) [also tap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eQWYkqrpfU) [this is tap too](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEbD8j_c7Uo)   
> [The Lab is an amazing hip hop group](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY_lf0No-gk)   
> [kyrical](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Aa49m2X_Rw) [Lyrical again](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7aRjzkiS1A)  
> [this mans honestly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TRLttF3Zk0)   
> [Just to bless your soul](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNMfUQAg0dk) [more blessing for your souls](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey9A11CITio)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhhh so sorry this took forever! I'm in the same timeframe before performances Lance is in the story, and i've been at dane for 10 or more hours a day for the past couple weeks, and now it's finals week and I have to study! But.... the chapters here and I hope you enjoy!

“Hey everybody! Lance here again!” He’s taken over the Altea Dance Studio Instagram story again and is videoing himself on the drive to school. “As many of you probably already know, each of the dancers absolutely killed it in Saturday nights General Show, and it’s just made us all the more excited to share  _ Alec In Wonderland  _ with y’all! It’s currently Wednesday morning, meaning our show opens in just two days! I have my friends Pidge and Hunk here with me, they did the lights for the general show just by the way, and Pidge here decided to do some counting to see how many tickets have been sold, and how many are left for each night!” The video times out and he posts it, they all get out of the car before he starts the new one.

“So. Opening night, aka this coming Friday, has sold….” Lance trails off and Pidge calls out, 

“150 tickets!”

“Leaving us with?”

“20 available!”

“Pretty good, pretty good. Alright, Pidgeon. What about Saturdays matinee?”

“90 tickets sold!”

“Which leaves?!”

“80!”

“Ahhhhh! We’re running out of time! Go quicker! Saturday night!”

“132 sold! Leaving 38!”

“Monday, aka closing, night?”

“145 sold, 25 left!”

“That’s right folks, hurry quick! I have the feeling we’re going to sell out this year!”

The video ends again and he starts one more. 

“Ok. That’s nearly it, two more things! I wanted to quickly mention our outreach program! Monday morning we’re doing a shortened show for school-age kids FOR FREE! We still have a couple of class slots left, so teachers get out there and sign your class up! They’ll get to take pictures with the cast, ask questions, and so much more! It’s my absolute favorite to perform for kids! So please, please, please sign your classes up!

Then lastly, according to this  _ gremlin _ ,” He says while gesturing at Pidge, then does a crappy imitation as he quotes them “‘There’s a certain someone coming to the show one of the nights!’ But they refuse to tell me who, or what night! So I’m going to leave a poll in the next slide so you can vote on whether or not they should  _ spill the tea! _ ” Pidge nudges him and rolls their eyes as he posts the video, then snaps a photo of him slinging his arm around Pidge and posted that with the poll “spill the tea!” or “nah!”

“Morning Allura!” Hunk says as he spots her. She waves in reply and holds up her phone. 

 “I’ve been watching everything as you post it. I’m about to vote… which do you think I should do?” She winks and laughs as Lance starts begging her to vote for Pidge to spill. “Yeah. I mean… I already know so I think I’ll vote ‘nah!’”

 “AluRrA!!!” Lance screeches, “wHy?”

 She chuckles and ruffles his hair as they all sit down around their normal table. “Because I want it to be a surprise!”

 He rolls his eyes and swats her hand away. He’s about to retort when a certain boy with shiny black hair catches his eye. He sighs and lays his cheek in his hand, watching him sketch at a table halfway across the commons. He watches the way his pale hand flicks quickly back and forth. The way he sucks in his bottom lip then nibbles at it. The cord of his earbuds that trails from his ears down to his pocket where his phone sits. The way his leg bounces slightly, likely in time to whatever song he’s listening to. 

 As Lance watches, a tall, well built, and undeniably attractive man walks over to Keith and sits next to him and taps him on the shoulder. Keith glances up and immediately breaks into a smile, pulling out his earbuds and engaging in a conversation. 

 Lance huffs. Whoever that _unfairly_ attractive man is, he can’t help but be jealous at the genuine smile Keith gives him. 

 He turns back to his friends to find them all staring at him with raised eyebrows. 

 “So,” Pidge says. “Something catch your eye or did you just purposefully ignore our question?”

 He chuckles and blushes to his ears. “Sorry. Mind repeating the question?”

 As he’s pulled back into his friends' conversation, he misses the way the other boy looks at Keith’s sketchpad and smiles, looking first to Lance then Keith as he nudges him with his shoulder, the small boy turning as red in the face as his signature jacket. 

 

 

*********************************************************

 

 

“Oh my God, Shiro!” Keith cries out quietly and buries his red face in his hands. “Can you not point it out EVERY time you catch me sketching him?”

 “Come on Keith! You’re absolutely smitten with this boy! Of course I’m gonna give you crap!”

 “He’s just cute! I can’t help drawing him.” He mumbles out as he stubbornly shoves his earbuds back into his ears, hoping Shiro gets the message that he _doesn’t want to talk about it._

 Evidently, Shiro doesn’t get that message and pulls the earbud from the ear closer to him. “Keith. My dear, dear boy.” He continues despite the dark side eye from Keith, “You need to ask him out.”

 “Yeah... No. No way.”

 “Come on! Why not?”

 “Because he’ll say no and then I’ll die of embarrassment!"

 “Ok. Even though I know that isn’t true, I also know there isn’t any point in trying to convince you of that. So let's make a bet. Whoever can get more selfies with different kids on the robotics team by the end of the day - with them knowing and agreeing to the selfie - gets to make the other do _one_ thing.”

 “I’ll only agree to that if you aren’t allowed to text Matt and get him to plot the team against me.”

 “Deal.” Shiro says and sticks his hand out. Keith takes it and shakes it. 

 “Alright.” He says. “If _I_ win, you have to buy me that case of Copic markers I’ve been wanting. You know… those really really expensive ones?”

 “Ok. And if _I_ win you have to buy flowers for Lance and take them to him after the show _and_ ask him out when you give them to him.”

 The bell rings faintly as Keith nods and the two shake hands again. As the smaller boy starts haphazardly shoving his things into his backpack Shiro pulls out his phone. 

  **Hey. Matt. My Buddy my pal. Can you send me your sibs number? Its for a bet. I’m not allowed to get YOU to plot people against Keith…. but I can ask your sib to do so.**

 

**My brother from another mother. You know I’ve got your back.**

***attachment 1 contact:** **_That Gremlin_ ** *****

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Alright, class. Today we are starting the final project for the year.” Mr. Arnold says as he looks out over the class, “You and a partner will have to create a structurally sound bridge, and the pair with the bridge that can withstand the most weight will win two free movie passes to our local theater. You will have until June 2nd to get these projects in, which is Monday the final week of school, meaning you only have a few weeks to work on these. Therefore anyone whos bride can hold at least 20 pounds will get 100% on this project. You have three minutes to find a partner and report them to me and then you’ll have the entire rest of the period to begin working. Start now.”

Before Keith even has the chance to put away his sketchbook and stand up two hands slam down on the desk in front of him. 

“Keith!” Lance cries out, “Let’s be partners!”

Keith shakes off his startlement and nods his head, then Lance drags him to the front of the class and they’re the first two partners put down on the list.

The second they’re back in Keith's desk - or rather Keith in the chair and Lance perched on top - Lance starts rapid-fire talking. 

“Ok. first of all I won’t be able to work on anything until next Tuesday because of dance stuff, but after that, I’m basically free whenever. We’ll have to buy materials, and if it’s ok with you can we work at your place? I have lots of siblings and they’d just get in the way.” He keeps going and talking a mile a minute and Keith is content to just sit and watch. 

Watch the way his eyes sparkle as he gets more and more excited about the project.

The way his hands swing wildly around to animate his voice. 

The way his nose crinkles every so often as he smiles. 

Just his smile….

Then he spots two of the robotics kids across the classroom. 

“Um. Hold on. Sorry. I’ll be right back.”

He’s up from his seat so quick he almost misses the way Lance’s eyes suddenly go dull, the smile falling from his face and his hands falling to clasp tightly in his lap. Almost, but not quite.

“Hey. No.” Without thinking Keith reaches out and brushes his cheek, “I promise it’s nothing to do with you. I actually love listening to you talk. I just have to win a bet…” He turns bright red and turns away, hurrying towards the robotics kids. This time definitely missing Lance’s new expression - red as a firetruck and love-struck eyes following him away, a hand coming up delicately to hold the spot on his face the other boy brushed. 

“Hey. Um. Sorry to bother you but… I was wondering if I could get a selfie with the two of you?” Keith somehow manages to stammer out once he’s next to the robotics kids. 

“Sorry.” They both say without looking up, “That isn’t something we can do at the moment. Or today.”

“Ummmm. ok….” he says awkwardly, then backs away and returns to his desk where Lance is flipping through the early pages of his sketchbook. Luckily he’s still near where Keith bought it, and therefore before where he met Lance and the subject of his art changed. He tells himself to be calm and casual as he sits down and gently grabs the sketchbook. “Ok… should I sketch out a few ideas?” He says and flips well into the book and past the latest drawing of Lance, who nods excitedly as they get to work. 

By the end of class they have several different drawings, but only three that actually seem like possibilities. Once they choose comes the awful part - doing all the math. 

The bell rings and the two stand up together, keeping up idle chatter as they make their way to English. As they round the last corner near their class Lance mentions a bet he made with his brother that ended with him wearing a full glam makeup look to school for a week. 

Keith smiles and chuckles, “I actually have a bet going with my brother right now. He came over to me this morning in the commons and struck it up.”

Lance laughs, “That extremely hot, muscular man is your brother? But you’re so small! And cute!” Lance turns bright red and looks away when he realizes what he said, making Keith laugh again.

“Well, technically adoptive brother. His parents took me in when I was 10.”

“Oh! That’s cool! Can I ask why you only transferred here recently? I think I’ve seen Shiro around before you transferred?” 

“Oh. His parents died about a year after they took me in. Since we weren’t biologically related we were sent to different foster homes without much resistance. We stayed in touch and as soon as he turned 18 he applied to have me move in with him in his own apartment. It took a few months so that’s why I transferred so late in the year.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

Keith smiles over at him. “Don’t be sorry. Yeah, my life sucked for a while, but it’s made me who I am.”

Lance nudges him as they walk through the door to English. “See you later, partner.” Then they separate and walk to their desks on opposite sides of the class. 

Keith takes his seat and smiles softly as he watches Lance talk animatedly with his neighbor for a moment until the bell rings to signal the start of class. 

The class is simple and only requires half a brain as they listen to an audio recording of some book Keith should definitely know the title of but doesn’t. 

His phone buzzes in his pocket and he pulls it out discreetly seeing a notification from Shiro. 

**I got this pic during the break! Good luck little bro (:**

***attachment: one photo***

Keith has to stifle a groan at the sight of the photo. Shiro's face just barely shows in the corner and about 20 kids stand behind him. Now, Keith doesn’t know for sure…. but he has a strong feeling that Shiro had just gotten a majority of the robotics team. 

hey man. you good? you look like you just died. 

Keith smiles and looks up to see Lance looking over at him, eyebrow raised high, smirk on his lips. 

_ yeah. just the bet with my brother. starting to look like im gonna lose.  _

 

dang man. what was the bet?

 

Keith chuckles and shakes his head. 

_ we had to get pictures with more of the robotics kids than the other _

 

oh man! you shouldve asked pidgeon!

 

_ crap! youre right!  _

 

He hears a snort and looks up to see Lance shoving a hand over his mouth and nose. The tips of his ears incredibly pink. 

 

_ did you just SNORT?!?! _

nope. nah. youre hearing things. 

 

Keith looks up again, seeing Lance chew on his bottom lip as he looks nervously at his phone, face a bright shade of pink. He can’t help but think it’s quite adorable, and that maybe he can make it better. 

 

_ dont worry. i think its cute.  _

 

Then, the most amazing thing happens. Lance  _ squeaks _ and buries his face in his hands.  Keith subtly lifts his phone above his desk and snaps a picture. 

Then, for the first time, he thinks it might not be  _ so  _ bad to lose the bet, after all. I mean, who blushes like that over a compliment from someone they see as ‘just a friend.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh I love it when my oblivious boys become a little less oblivious <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the show... part one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so... you know the playlist i shared a few chapters back [(here it is again)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoctVCdNdDY&list=OLAK5uy_mXxpmd9nhxH1fiI7e7Yxj_M8lwXgzXqw0) thats also on spotify? well. every time theres an asterisk (*) it shows the break between songs if you so desire to listen as you read.... hope this makes sense!

“Hey, man whatcha drawing?” Pidge says as they walk over. 

In response, Keith slams the book shut. “You know. This and that. Whatever inspires me.”

“Oh. So Lance?” Pidge says as they gesture to his still open phone, exposing the picture of Lance he’d taken earlier that day and he feels his face heat up. 

“Shut up.” He mumbles. 

Pidge smirks. “Well. I hear you lost a bet today… and now have to ask him on a date!”

“You’re kidding. Why did Shiro tell you?”

“I forced it out of him. I have my ways. Speaking of ways, how are you gonna ask Lance out?”

“I don’t know. I’m still nervous he’ll say no.” Pidge just raises an eyebrow. “I mean. Have you seen him? He’s practically perfect. He’s dorky and fun, his smile can brighten anyone's day. He somehow manages to be clumsy even while he can perform routines flawlessly on stage. He can be pretty stupid sometimes, and sometimes a little loud and obnoxious, but that just makes him more relatable. More human and perfect in a whole different way. Perfectly imperfect. Whereas I’m just... Me.”

“Ugh. That was the cutest and most disgusting thing I’ve ever heard. I don’t know why I’m still willing to help you.”

“Help me with… what, exactly?”

“Asking him out. Obviously. He’s an extra boy so you gotta ask him out in an extra way.”

“Yeah… can we do extra without drawing a ton of attention to me?”

The grin the breaks out on Pidges face is honestly demonic. “Exactly how many pictures have you drawn of that boy?”

 

________________________________________________

 

 

Keith spends the next two days plotting with Pidge and before he knows it he’s sitting in his seat at the show as the lights dim. He wore his red button up, rolled to the elbows, a few buttons were undone, along with black slacks and his nicest pair of shoes, and has a single red rose clutched in his hands… he still can't figure out exactly why we agreed to this plan, but before he can dwell on it any longer the curtains open. 

 

A weird haunting clicking sound begins from the speakers, and at first, Keith thinks they must be having technical difficulties, then the most insane girl he has ever seen wanders onto stage and waves at the audience, a creepy smile on her bright blue lips. Keith has a moment to realize she must be the Mad Hatter before she turns and waves to someone off stage and three others scamper on - a young looking girl with two braids, mouse ears, and whiskers, a girl in pure white with fluffy ears sticking up from her head, and a boy in yellow with brown fluffy ears. They must be the Dormouse, White Rabbit, and Hare. For just over a minute they scamper around the stage to the haunting music, fully captivating the audience, until the White Rabbit girl pulls out a golden pocket watch and frantically gets the others attention. They all hurry off stage as the music slightly fades, the Hatter girl blowing one last kiss. 

 *

There's a second of chirping crickets and the Lance himself runs onto the stage with the first trill of real music. For a moment Lance is the only thing on stage and Keith feels his breath catch in his throat. That boy is adorable and his face  _ literally  _ sparkles in the stage lights as he looks around in wonder. Then everything pulls into motion and stage pieces begin to be pushed on stage by people dressed completely in black. Lance dashes between the fake trees as they swirl and move about the stage, sometimes on pointe and dancing sometimes just running and he genuinely seems like a child at play. The music is so bright and happy and it truly feels like a scene of magic even though it's so simple, and the movement of the stage pieces makes it seem as if Lance is truly moving through a large area rather than just back and forth across the stage. A large tree with a swing comes onto the stage as the music slows slightly and Lance twirls over to it and sits down in the swing, a peaceful smile on his face as the tree slides to center stage. When the movement stops Lance stands on the swing and gently swings it back and forth.

 *

Suddenly the music changes again, to something more bouncy and staccato. A man with bright orange hair and a mustache comes onstage dressed nearly identical to Lance, but it dark blue rather than light and in simple shoes rather than pointe. (knowing the difference between the shoes and a few basic steps begins and ends Keith's dance knowledge.) The man walks over to where Lance swings and wags a finger at him, Lance jumps down and appears sheepish as he seems to try and explain himself to the man with wild hand gestures and a smile. The man grabs his arm and pulls him over to the side of the stage where Allura has come on in a knee-length pink dress and flat shoes. She lays out a blanket and sits atop it, pulling out a book and handing one to the man as he sits down as well, pulling a now grumpy Lance with him. Then starts a ritual of Lance getting up and poorly attempting to sneak away only to be dragged back to the blanket by either Allura or the man over and over, clearly trying to get him to read until a ticking sound comes for a moment and they give up, then the three begin dancing with lots and lots of quick jumps and flying feet. They throw in a few turns and other steps Keith has no idea what they are but is fully captivated, and then they finally manage to get Lance back to the blanket where he stretches and yawns before laying down and closing his eyes just in time for the clicking to start again. 

* 

The White Rabbit hops onto the stage and looks at her watch before turning and running straight into the tree and falling to the ground, causing Lance to ‘awaken’ and notice her. As Lance gets up and walks towards her the blanket and large tree are pulled offstage by unseen tech kids, taking Allura and Coran with them. Lance gets the girls attention and she frantically waves he pocket watch and does a few moves, which Lance repeats nearly exact as the music does the same, creating a neat copycat scene. This happens twice more before the drums start and the Rabbit girl jumps into a run and Lance follows her. Thus starts an insanely in sync routine on pointe as the two scurry around the stage, jumping, turning, and doing all sorts of weird steps in time with the music. At times the movements switch from in sync to flowing back and forth between the two in a seeming conversation. This goes on until the sounds from earlier repeat and the three copycat steps go again until suddenly the Rabbit girl turns and pulls out her watch before frantically jumping off the stage with a small explosion of glitter behind her, a majority landing on Lance as he jumps after her. Then the stage is suddenly empty.

 *

A few notes of music ring out before Lance very ungracefully stumbles on stage from the opposite side he left it, somehow not looking out of breath beside the difficulty of the last routine and the obvious sprint he would’ve had to take backstage. He looks around, probably for the white rabbit, and instead sees a door come onstage and goes for it, ducking behind it only to be replaced a young boy who looks exactly like him (except for the fact that he is like four feet tall) when the door moves away. He looks down and jumps, looking up in fear when he sees how small he has become. He runs for the door but its gone, and another one comes onstage in its place, he ducks behind it and when that one moves away the little boy is sitting on Lance’s shoulders. They look at each other and the small boy jumps down and they scamper away from each other. They dance around each other carefully and perfectly mirror each other's movements and facial expressions in a way that’s frankly uncanny. Another door appears and when it moves away it leaves only small Lance who does a little solo before ducking behind a door and being replaced by regular Lance who shakes his head in confusion as the doors all move off one side of the stage.

 *

Again there's the sound of crickets and then slowly from the other side of the stage, where Lance isn’t looking, a bunch of tiny little girls in purple trickle onto the stage and proceed to do a little routine, terribly together and doing half the steps wrong but adorable nonetheless as they move closer to Lance who eventually turns around and sees them, then smiles and joins in their routine. The girls are obviously watching him in order to know what to do, but Keith is pretty sure they aren’t supposed to, and it’s literally the cutest thing Keith has seen in his life as Lance dances with them around the stage. After just over a minute another group of girls runs onstage to join them, this time dressed in pink. Keith assumes all the little girls to be flowers as he gets a better look at the purple and pink skirts, and how they appear to be layered as petals. Lance and the girls continue to dance around the stage together, the girls still watching Lance for every step. About another minute later yet another group of little girls comes onstage, these ones dressed in blue and green unitards, their hair in braided pigtails sticking slightly out from either side of their heads. They do rolls on the floor, a few of them showing off really good flexibility in certain poses, while the flower girls now simply turn to the edges of the stage and kneel - messing with their skirts to make sure they flow out like actual petals even though they're probably not supposed to touch them.

Almost another minute later the music changes again and smoke starts filling the stage from one side as a large set piece rolls onstage, an older girl in pointe shoes and a unitard sitting on top, sitting in a stretch Lance often does with one leg bent in front and the other stretched out behind, one hand raised above her face with a pipe as if she's the one smoking to fill the stage. She has intense blue and green makeup on her face and only one large braid from the top of her head and falling down her back. The younger caterpillar girls moved over into poses around the large… rock? stump? mushroom? whatever the set-piece was and Lance walked over too. He waved a hand in front of his face and choked on the smoke still filling the stage before reaching up to help her down. She places her hand on his shoulders and he places his in her hips, then they flip her up so she's in a handstand atop his shoulders, legs opening to be straight out from her hips as Lance rotates his hands to hold her thighs and she lifts hers from his shoulders to hold them out as Lance beings to rotate and take her across the stage above his head, turning around faster and faster until suddenly he lets her go. The audience gasps, thinking she's been dropped until Lance suddenly catches her again and sets her to the ground.  They both rise up on pointe and turn around each other before sliding neatly into a mirroring routine that shows off their flexibility. They slide to the floor in the splits, lay on their stomachs and kick the feet over to their heads to unroll and stand slowly and so much other weird stuff that honestly seems like it should break a person apart. Keith shudders as he thinks of trying to do any of the things they do. This goes on just over a minute before the music changes again and a fresh wave of smoke fills the stage, all the little girls standing up and running forward. Lance dragged the older girl to the back of the stage and they started doing tricks and lifts as the girls danced along the front of the stage. For about a minute and a half, the tricks got scarier and the girls pretended to laugh more and more, and it became clear that the smoke was actually “drugging” them. Then suddenly eight couples dressed in all purple ran onstage. The girls sitting on the boys' shoulders and wings draped between the girls' wrists and backs. 

The rest of the dancers left the stage, along with the mushroom rock thing, to leave just the 16 kids in purple as the music slowed down. They did a small partnering routine, mostly small jumps and turns as they presented themselves ever gracefully with big smiles on their faces. Keith recognizes one girl from school, who always runs up and jump hugs Lance whenever she gets the chance. Even not having ballet training he can tell there is one couple with a bit more experience than the rest, and no matter how the formation changes they stay toward the front. These 16 kids get about three minutes before the music fades again and they slowly walk to the edges of the stage in the seconds before the music picks up again. 

Then the caterpillar girl is back, this time being carried above a boys head, this boy dressed similarly to the other boys currently onstage, just in a darker purple and has a few more embellishments. For a minute they do neat and graceful partnering before it changes with another change of music. The caterpillar girl hooks her leg over the boy's shoulder and swings herself up to sit atop his shoulders and gesture to the sides of the stage then the little caterpillars run back onstage and she flips forward and of the boy's shoulders. She runs forward and joins them in a routine of slides and tricks. They do back walkovers and turns. Front walkovers and splits and more until the music softens and the kids in purple run forward and begin a routine again, this time separate from their partners to show off individual skills performed in unison. Smoke begins to fill the stage thicker than any time before and then suddenly the music stopped for just a moment and then it started again and suddenly Lance burst through the dancers and fog to smile at the audience. Then the flowers rejoin the stage as well and the entire garden performs a routine together. All the same steps with only slight variations between the classes to show off how they've grown. This only lasts a short while before the garden characters begin to leave the stage and Lance keeps dancing, seeming not to notice as the music fades away. 

 *

Then suddenly the clicking starts back up and the white rabbit jumps back onto the stage. Lance rubs his eyes and grins before running over and waving to her. Then together they move across the stage with tiny quick movements and swinging legs. They keep moving together doing turns and quick little jumps until a repeating note where they pose and bounce - kind of like an animated character - before suddenly starting back up again in a flurry of tiny movements. Similar to the forest scene earlier trees move across the stage to create the illusion of running through a forest as Lance tries to follow the rabbit. The music builds up and Lance does his best to keep track of her as they both do their quick movements, then suddenly the rabbit is gone and Lance looks around in confusion as the music dies away to be replaced by just the clicking sound. 

 *

Slowly a boy in cat ears lowers himself down from where he was hidden in a tree and taps Lance on the shoulder before hiding himself behind the tree. Lance turns around and looks for him as the cat boy walks around the tree to tap him again from the other side. Lance turns around to see him this time and they gesture at each other for a moment before the cat reaches up and pulls… nothing? from the tree? then starts being creepy as the Cheshire Cat is, stroking under Lance's chin, across his stomach and such as Lance just… watches with a look of pure confusion. Then the cat pulls him to center stage with a smile and has him do a couple turns before lowering himself to the floor only to suddenly float into the air followed closely by Lance. Lance kicks his legs out to stop himself and gets whipped around for just a second… then the music starts to scale up and down and Lance and the cat seem to ‘walk’ on the air up and then down with the movement of the song. As Lance ‘gets the hang of it’ he gets a little more daring and even walks himself upside down a few times. Keith can tell this scene isn't really ‘dancing’ per say, but it’s really cool to watch the two boys seemingly fly even though he knows they are attached to ropes and using every muscle in their body while somehow looking relaxed… it's really cool. Eventually, as the music stops - twinkling is really the best word for it - the two come to rest standing on the floor. The cat spins around and then is pulled back into the sky, and Lance looks around. Still thoroughly confused. 

 

The curtain slides shut and a voice comes through the speakers, saying they will now take a short ten-minute intermission. Keith stands up and stretches, a smile on his face. Lance is honestly so talented it's insane, and he can tell just watching that the other kids at the studio look up to him as well. He pulls out his phone and turns it on to have it immediately buzz with a text from Pidge. 

 

**_Hey loser. I got excused from backstage duties for intermission. Something about “Pidge I swear if you make that face at me one more time I’ll kill you.” and then “Pidge leave him alone hes gotta catch his breath.” So yeah. Come to the concessions stand._ **

 

Keith smiles and rolls his eyes.

 

_ Be there in a sec _

 

He replies and then tucks his phone away and picks up his rose. 

“Hey, dumbo,” Pidge says the second they see him, they’ve gotten close the past couple months... “I got you licorice.” They then chuck said licorice at his face. 

Keith just rolls his eyes and pop the package open, offering them a piece before he starts to snack on one as well. 

“So. What do you think?” Pidge says, through the mouthful of licorice.

Keith grimaces at the sound and swallows his before replying. “I think it’s amazing. Especially Lance. It’s cute to see the way the younger kids at the studio look up to him. And he just looks so happy and carefree up there. It makes me happy to see him like that.”

A lady standing next to them chuckles and looks over after she pays for her soda. “Talking about your boyfriend? Is he in the show?”

Keith blushes and looks down, it’s nice to know that the lady doesn’t care he’s gay, but a little awkward that she could tell just from the way he spoke two sentences about Lance. He clears his throat. “No… We’re actually not dating.” The lady raises an eyebrow and Keith blushes but holds up the rose. “I am planning to ask him out tonight though.”

The lady smiles at him and nods before walking away. Pidge cackles. “Oh my god, Keith. You’re so gay.”

Keith pushes them lightly and pulls out another piece of licorice, a smile still refusing to leave his face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hOly crap this chapter was a STRUGGLE and a half to write. My computer is falling apart, and both my "n" key and my "b" key only working if i f***ing slam down on them (pardon my french) and i kept forgetting. i also kept leaving my earbuds home from school so i could never write during lunch cause i needed to hear the music. and freaking finals are a thing so (: anyway, i hope you guys enjoyed and understood this chapter. even though it was a bit of a struggle it was still a lot of fun to write. 
> 
> also, very important, thank you all for the support. this last chapter (i think?) really jumped my kudos mark and it means a lot that you guys follow and enjoy my writing so thank you so so much. really. 
> 
> lastly..... it would mean a lot of you checked out/followed [my tumblr](https://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/)


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the show.... part two!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... i got a comment saying that the descriptions of the dances didn't make sense to a lot of people, so I'm terribly sorry. this chapter was mostly written in the same way, but I hope at least the general idea comes through. and rest assured, this is the last chapter where theres going to be a lot of dancing. thanks for reading!

Keith settles back into his seat as the lights dim, the curtains open to expose Lance alone onstage, then it's back to strange haunting sounds as the crazily clad girl comes back onstage, this time without the hat and leaning on a sign that points every which way, the one pointing down at her head saying “The Mad Hatter.” Lance waves questioningly at her and she smiles at him, then turns her head to grin at the audience and press her extended pointer fingers into her cheeks. As a weird voice starts with the music she runs towards Lance to seemingly collide into him only for them to suddenly be rotating in a lift, her parallel to the floor at the height of his hips. As soon as her feet touch the floor they both launch into perfectly synced turns of every sort that are insanely impressive. They last for so long Keith worries for their health and their ability to actually _stand_ , but when they suddenly stop its to stand on top of their pointe shoes with their hands above their head. The music dramatically changes and the hat drops down from above right into hatters hands. The two move around each other before moving away in slow steps and rotations. They do a few small jump steps and beat their legs before the music starts to pick up again and they move closer. The music slows dramatically and seems about to end before it suddenly jumps back into music similar to the beginning of the routine and the two fly right back into ridiculously quick turns flipping round and round in sync with each other. After only a moment they drop out of the turns and Lance runs to the hatter and steals the hat, or tries to. They wrestle over it for a second before hatter wins and then slams it down onto Lance's head and over his eyes. 

*

Lance wrestles with the hat as the hatter grins maniacally and new props slide onto the stage. On one side the biggest teapot Keith has ever seen and on the other a table and chairs of the same kind. Large beyond belief… or use. A girl with mouse ears suddenly pops out of the giant teapot on the floor. The white rabbit - who had been leaning precariously off the edge of the giant table fell off only to be caught by the hatter girl and the boy in the yellow suit jumps down after her. Lance is still wrestling with the hat and the other boy goes over and pulls off the hat before picking him up around the middle and spinning across the stage, causing Lance to pull his legs into his chest and pull a face of fright before the boy  _ literally  _ tosses Lance up onto the table. As this happens the girls dance in a triangular formation, moving slightly towards the table, but Keith hardly notices, as he’s much more focused on the pretty boy in blue. The other boy climbs up to the table, somehow gracefully and picks Lance back up as he kicks and tries to push away, only to fail and be thrown again - this time off the table and into the small girl that had come out of the teapot at the beginning. Keith gets the feeling this scene is going to cause him a lot of anxiety… he silently prays no one (especially Lance) gets hurt as the dancers continue moving and a more and more hectic manner. The dancers consistently pause to ‘drink’ from their cups, and once again Keith thinks the point is to show they’re getting drugged.

Lance and the mouse girl quickly become targets for the others so they team up to try and stay away - starting the moment Lance gets chucked into her and they both fall over. The other kids had first pulled them both up and forced them into a ballroom hold, then lined up respectively by gender and launched into a short ballroom routine congo style as Lance and the mouse looked at the audience with worry in their eyes. After that the two girls had hoisted the mouse up and took her to the table as the boy scooped up Lance and dumped him into the teapot, only to return and turn around just in time to catch the mouse as she was thrown from the top of the table and dump her into the teapot as well. Then he grabbed it and spun it around. He ran over to the table after that as Lance and the mouse poked their heads out, looking ill. Lance clumsily climbs out and turns to help the mouse out only to be grabbed again, this time by the white rabbit, and turned around and pushed towards the hare and the hatter who are fighting over the relatively normal sized teapot. Lance panics and rushes over to pull them apart and take the teapot, but somehow ends up lifted above their heads in the middle splits with the teapot in hand. He, of course, panics as any sane person would do in such a position and drops the teapot just as the mouse girl runs under his legs between the two that are holding it up and catches the falling pot. The other two chase her to the table and run underneath as Lance, somehow, ends up on the table still in the middle splits. 

The hatter girl succeeds in grabbing the teapot and scales the table, jumps over Lance and flips off, only to be tossed over the shoulder of the rabbit girl. Lance continues to sit on the table in the splits, just sipping a cup of tea, as the hare dumps the mouse girl into the giant teapot. Only seconds later everyone else joins him on the table and pushes him off, then as he climbs up they push the mouse as well, she climbs and Lance is pushed, Lance climbs and she gets pushed. This happens about three times, until instead of pushing the mouse girl the hatter and rabbit jump after Lace and drag him across the stage as he slumps between them. Once on the other side, they grab his hands and then BAM Lance is in the air hitting a middle split before he crashes into the hare who grabs him by one leg and one arm to swing him around the stage. The mouse girl climbs out of the teapot, where she somehow ended up again. More and more tricks follow, and Keith honestly loses track of the movement as he leans forward in his seat to watch in fear. 

Then, the characters begin to stumble about, acting rather drunk, and the music starts to change to sound like it's being played by a drunk as well. The hare and hatter collapse on top of the table, the mouse upside down and feet sticking out of the teapot, then Lance and the rabbit in a pile on the floor. The teapot, table, and chairs slide offstage.

*

Suddenly the sound of a clock ticking starts back up again. The rabbit sits up and pulls out her watch, only to panic and turn to Lance, shaking him awake and holding the clock out to his face. She jumps to her feet and Lance groggily gets to his, confusion once again written on his face as she begins to drag him across the stage and then into a routine. This routine is similar to the first two between the rabbit and Lance (trees and all), but more intense. Every jump is higher and has more beats of the legs, every turn is faster and has more rotations. The crazy moves they’d been doing in the first half of the show now taken to the extreme. Lance frantically chases after the rabbit, always trying to start a seeming conversation before she takes off again. Keith along with the rest of the audience watch mesmerized by the quick movements. The music scales upward and the rabbit takes for the wings, jumping off in an explosion of glitter that again lands all over Lance. The boy makes a pouty face, but this time doesn’t attempt to follow, instead, he slumps to the ground under a tree, arms crossed in front of his chest. 

*

The music that clearly represents the Cheshire Cat comes back and the boy leans out of the tree right above Lance, reaching down and actually crawling his way down the tree next to the other boy. He sits for a moment in the silence of the music, and then stands slowly and pulls Lance with him, encouraging him to step into the routine. Lance does stand up, but the two don’t start dancing until a silence in the music. Then the two move gracefully across the stage with soft turns and partnering steps that switch off who does the “masculine” and “feminine” part. Lance will lift the cat boy into a bent legged jump - that with Lances help goes higher and last longer - and then the cat will turn right around and pull Lance into a lift of his own. The routine seems oddly…. Intimate is really the only word for it. Yet, it's creepy as well. The cat turns Lance around in a long series of turns and then scoops him up, Lance wrapping both his arms and legs around the other boy and then they’re suddenly lifted up and off the stage. Keith honestly applauds Pidge and Hunk (who he knows are the leading tech kids) on their ability to make the ropes so invisible throughout the entire scene. 

*

The music turns oddly peppy and jumpy and a bunch of little girls come onstage in buckets. They’re all wearing soft white tops with green leaves, and have green tights and shoes sticking out the bottom of the buckets. They hold the buckets as they jump onto the stage with the music and into a simple line in the back where they set the buckets down the jump out and run forward, long skirts now falling free without the buckets in the way. They dance around each other mostly with jumps and heal clicks, every once in a while one will run forward and goof off before falling back into the group. They do a few turns here and there across the stage for about 2 minutes before the music changes and a group of kids come onstage.

The girls are in red tights and the boys in black tights, each with a different number of shapes on their white shirts. There are about 12 kids, and he assumes they’re supposed to be cards. There's 2-6 of both spades and diamonds. They quickly march onstage and round up the roses, pushing them back to their buckets, before huddling together. They seem to ‘talk’ for a moment before jumping up and running offstage, only to come back on with buckets and red paintbrushes. They waltz around the stage and each other for nearly two minutes, giant smiles on their faces as they think they’ve found the solution to all their problems. Then they realize the white roses were sneaking from the stage, all of them in the wings by now, and simply throw their buckets of ‘paint’ (red confetti) into the wings. They march into the wings and drag the girls out again in their buckets, but Keith suspects these are actually different girls because instead of pretty white costumes they now wear the same dresses in splotchy red. 

They line the girls up in the back in their buckets, wipe their hands, and march happily from the stage. The girls step from their buckets and dramatically seem to cry as they scrub their arms. Some of the girls even grab each other and weep. After a moment the cards come running back onstage and hastily pick up girls and drop them into their pots and then a boy dressed all in red comes onstage, walking with confidence, and Keith immediately recognizes that he’s the “king” of hearts. The boy is quickly followed by four teens, two boys, and two girls. The boys wear red tights and white shirts, with hearts on their chest and the girls wear white tutus with the hearts on the skirt and pointe shoes on their feet. They come onstage and the other cards cower as the king gestures towards the pots. Then one of the younger cards runs over and pulls a droopy rose from the pot. Then the other young cards join and pull the roses from the pots and send them forward into a little routine. They do similar steps to the white roses from earlier but in a much droopier attitude. Eventually, when the king seems satisfied he waves a dismissive hand and leaves the stage. The young cards march off the stage and the little roses follow them with their pots sadly. 

*

With the next start of music another boy dressed in red, with one of those funky jester hats, runs onstage dragging Lance behind him, and both boys are smiling and laughing. The two fall into a goofy partnering routine with lots of jumps and few turns. They move around the stage together for almost two minutes, throwing in a few complicated lifts before there’s a crash in the music and the two jump to a stop on one side of the stage. 

*

The Rabbit girl comes running onto the stage in fright, quickly followed by the King of hearts. As soon as he catches her the two fall into a partnering routine, with similar steps as the other routines from earlier, yet so different because of the emotions they portray as they do them. The rabbit comes across as fearful and apologetic, whereas the King seems slightly angry. They dance together beautifully. 

The music falls silent for a moment and Lance drags the other boy to further onto the stage next to the King and the rabbit while the other four heart cards rejoin the stage as well. The four partnering sets fall into a unified routine with the soft music, Lance doing the same part as the other girls. However, the beauty of the routine doesn’t last long once the King notices Lance and the color he’s wearing - namely  _ not red. _

*

The King rounds on Lance and everyone scurries to the edges of the stage. The King gestures wildly in a way Keith recognizes as a question, then the two fall into a routine together. Lance clearly attempting to explain the story so far without the help of the other characters and the King watches angrily, stepping in here and there with an angry step or two. Once again the routine is relatively short before the King drags Lance to the side of the stage and sits him down on the floor.

*

The music changes again and a group of tiny kids dressed in poofy brown costumes literally rolls onto the stage, pushed on by another boy in red a white. The following routine is a bit messy, likely because they’re so young, but they do it with extreme enthusiasm. They jump around the stage and make faces at those lined up along the edges of the stage causing them all to laugh ad smile, except for the King who keeps an angry frown on his face and is the only one the Hedgehogs decide to ignore. Once again the music falls silent for only a moment. 

*

The hatter and the hare march onstage each carrying a person clad fully in pink, and the mouse comes on after them, dragging a girl on the floor. The hedgehogs immediately react in fear, but when directed by the king one goes to the center of the stage and curls up in a ball, butt sticking into the air. The king obtains a pink person and uses them to whap the child on the butt, and the kid jumps up in fright before retucking and rolling away. By the king's reaction of anger, Keith assumes the kid rolls in a different direction than he wanted. 

Over and over a kid tucks themselves on the floor only to be whapped by one of the older kids with a mallet, most of the time rolling away in some odd direction. When it isn’t someones turn they dance around with the pink people and react to the game. Whereas Lance watches in slight fear until he is dragged forward. He reacts poorly and gestures -clearly meaning he doesn’t want to take part, so the king sighs and pushes him out of the way, taking another turn on his own. Once again each older kid takes a turn whapping some poor hedgehog child on the butt until the finally drag Lance forward again. He once again tries to refuse, but the King pushes a pink person into his hands and pushes him towards the hedgehog child with their butt currently in the air. Lance sighs, squeezes his eyes shut, and gently swings the mallet. 

*

The little child slowly rolls away, and this time - based on everyone's reactions - in the  _ right  _ way. The king marches towards Lance in anger after his shot makes it, Lance desperately tries to gesture that he hadn’t meant to offend the King as he marches after him. The little kids run from the stage and Lance cowers, his knees shaking, until the rabbit pushes him out of the way, and thus ensues a ridiculous battle scene. Everyone - the four cards, the King, the rabbit, the hatter, the joker, the mouse, the hare, the three pink people, the new boy in red and white, and Lance - chase each other around the stage. People get tossed and dragged around and they do an oddly satisfying routine that shows off the talent of these kids. There are quick turns and jumps done by different kids and groups over and over before they jump back towards someone else and fight. It goes on and on in an odd sense of organized chaos until the music goes quiet and the King stands over Lance who is curled up on the ground off to the side of the stage. 

Then suddenly everyone slowly backs from the stage as the trees slide back on. Allura and the orange haired man slide back onstage, still on their blanket, right up to where Lance is curled on the ground. The king backs away as well, seemingly unnoticed by the other two. Lance suddenly sits up, dragging the attention of the other two who look at him questioningly. He once again makes wild gestures while he looks around, likely for the other kids from the scene. Allura and the orange haired man simply shake their heads and look back to their books, then the blanket slides back offstage and takes all three with them. 

Then the cat is suddenly there, climbing down from a tree with a smile. He waves at the crowd and then walks offstage, all the trees sliding off after him. 

*

A moment of silence follows and then Allura and the orange haired man run back onstage. They grab hands and bow before sliding back to the rear of the stage. Next, the little boy that looks just like Lance runs on and takes a boy, backing up beside them. They wave offstage and the little girls in purple run on holding hands. They all smile and bow as well before backing up towards Allura who waves again and the little girls in pink come on from the other side of the stage and bow as well. Then come the little caterpillar girls. Then the first partnering kids they’d seen all dressed in purple. Then the grown caterpillar girl and the butterfly come on in a beautiful lift, and she practically cartwheels off his head before they bow. Next, it skips a bunch of scenes and the red and white roses run on, all holding hands and take a bow, the ones on either end holding a bundle of roses. Then it's the younger cards quickly followed by the little hedgehog kids. The pink people follow and take a quick bow before twirling to the back. Next come the older cards, each partnership running on in a lift as well from opposite sides of the stage. They let the girls down and take a bow before backing up as well. The two boys in red and white - the joker and the other one - literally flip onto the stage where they meet in the middle, do a heal click and bow. 

The cat boy suddenly appears from somewhere and takes a bow of his own, before doing a few quick steps and falling back with the group. Then the hare runs onstage, the mouse thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes as she kicks her feet. He lets her down and the two grab hands and bow to the crowd. (the mouse is holding a rose and a paper, just as planned, making Keith smile.) Then the rabbit runs onstage. She throws a quick series of turns and backs up as well. The king comes onstage, tall and confident as always and bows to the audience before backing up. Lastly, as the music changes the hatter runs onstage. She throws some turns and a flip before running back as the music dies. 

*

In the silence that follows the hatter holds a hand to the side of the stage and Lance runs on, waving to the crowd with a beautiful smile on his face. The crowd cheers and cheers as he takes a bow. Then the little rose girls holding the bundles of roses run forward, handing one bundle to Lance and the other to the hatter who each take roses from the small bundles and hand them to the other lead roles. Lance also walks through all the others to the orange haired man and gives him a hug before handing him a rose. Then Lance steps forward to the front of the stage and raises a hand, then leads the entire stage in one last bow before the curtains close. 

The lights come back up and Keith smiles. He knows what’s about to happen backstage - at least for the most part - and is equal parts excited and nervous. This is it...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! That's the show! You all know whats next! (:
> 
> also, it would mean a lot of you checked out/followed [my tumblr](https://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing this I realized how lonely and single I am and always will be.... also I wrote this in the middle of class in my notebook before either of the past two chapters, so I just had to move it over which was nice

As the curtain closes Lance sighs and hunches over to put his hands on his knees as he finally is able to slow his heart rate and catch his breath. After a moment he stands again to hug his fellow cast members before Nyma suddenly taps his shoulder.

“I was to give these to you.” She says with a small smile as she holds out a single red rose and a piece of paper.

Lance looks at her in confusion before taking them from her hand and turns the paper over to see a sketch.

The sketch is him with his thumbs next to his ears and fingers splayed wide. His tongue is sticking out, and his eyes squeezed shut. His typical teasing face. Scrawled along the bottom a note says 

_ Are you ready for a scavenger hunt? Clue one: find the biggest  _ _ prop _ _ from the show. _

Lance gasps and jumps excitedly, then takes off running. First, he goes to the giant table, but finds nothing. He tries the giant tree second, and upon finding nothing pauses to think for a moment. Then it clicks - the only large piece Coran has been calling a prop is the giant teapot. 

He runs over and pulls the top off, seeing a rose and another paper sitting on the bottom. He leans over the top and pulls them out.

This time the drawing is Lance in the middle splits, chin in his hands as he reads a book that lays open on the floor. The words on the bottom say:

_ You have two roses now, why don’t you find more? _

He takes a moment, then it clicks. Roses! Duh!

He looks around and sees the rose girls huddled together with guilty smiles on his faces. He quickly runs to them. 

“Do you have something for me?” He asks excitedly.

The smallest one pulls yet another rose and paper from behind her back, then they all scatter. The backstage is slowly emptying as the kids go to take pictures with their families. He looks at the picture.

This time he’s upside down in a handstand, a lopsided smile on his face.

_ Upside down huh? Didn’t you do that in the show? _

Was written right under the hands of his drawn self. 

He thinks through the show and realizes the only time he does a handstand is in the tea party scene, but he’d already checked the table. Then again, this seems to be really well planned out. He runs to the table and ducks underneath.

Sure enough, another paper and rose now dangle from the underside. He adds the rose to the growing stack - four now - in his left hand and looks at the picture.

This time he seems to be sitting at a table in the commons, just sitting there with a smile on his face. 

_ I wonder who you were sitting across from here? _

Ok, he knows it’s either Pidge, Hunk, or Allura. He looks around until he sees Allura standing with her hands behind her back, then he’s running again.

“Looking for this?” She says as she pulls another paper and rose out from behind her back, hands it to him and walks away. 

This time the picture is him doing his signature move…

_ The old ‘Razzle Dazzle’ Right? _

Lance has no clue what that one means, so he just starts looking around. Then he sees it. Another rose and paper hang from the recently closed curtain. He has no clue how or when they got there, but he doesn’t really care. He runs over and pulls it down. 

This picture looks to be him after the general show, smiling and holding a bouquet of flowers.

_ More flowers? I wonder what that means… _

“We’re just supposed to give these to him?” A little voice says behind him, and he whips around to see a couple of pink and purple flower girls looking at the closing stage door - one of them clutching another rose and paper.

He runs over and thanks them for it before shoving them back out the door and to their families. 

This drawing is him standing in the grass, clearly barefoot and leaning forward while he makes another face - pointer fingers squashing his cheeks in as he sticks his tongue out yet again. He’s starting to recognize the moments from the few times he could spend time with his friends in the past couple months.

_ Why do you never wear shoes outside? _

Shoes? His shoes are with his dance bag… he supposes its worth a shot. He runs into the dressing room and, sure enough, a paper and a rose sit atop his bag. 

This time Pidge is in the picture as well, sitting on a swing with a book open in their lap, glaring at Lance as he stands on his own swing. He remembers the moment. He had swung wildly, to Pidges immense annoyment, until they grabbed the chain of Lance’s swing - causing it to suddenly change momentum - and he fell off onto his butt. Keith had rolled on the ground laughing for an eternity afterwards.

Lance smiles at the memory and the fact that he’s starting to realize that this whole hunt has  _ got  _ to be Keith’s doing… right?

He lets his eyes travel to the bottom of the paper.

_ I mean, swings are fun. Yeah? _

He smiles even wider and takes off running all the way to the giant tree again, this time to find a paper and a rose laying on the swing. 

In this one, Lance is crosseyed and looking at a butterfly resting on his nose. He remembers that he had forced Keith away from studying about a month ago and the two had eaten oranges in Pidges yard. When the butterfly had landed on his nose Lance had a near heart attack and Keith had laughed so hard he spat out a mouthful of water. Lance had nearly cried when the butterfly finally flew away and he felt safe to move again.

_ I still can’t believe you’re scared of butterflies! _

Butterflies must mean Luke! He whips around and nearly runs into the aforementioned boy where he had snuck up behind him. 

“Hey, Lance…” He says awkwardly, “I was told to give you this.” He holds out the 10th picture and rose, “I’ll see you later.” Then he smiles before walking away. 

Lance smiles at his back and flips over the paper. He recognizes the moment from earlier that very week when they’d been making posters in class and a container of paint exploded, covering both himself and Keith in purple paint. The other boy had laughed and pulled out his phone to snap a picture of Lance's startled and paint splattered face, which had now been recreated in sketch. 

_ Even though seeing you covered in paint is fun, try not to get covered again as you find your next clue. _

Lance looks around backstage and realizes that everyone else is gone…. He squeezes his eyes shut and thinks. It says not to get paint on himself...

The paint closet! Duh! He runs over and opens the door to see yet another rose and paper. 

He grabs them both and flips it over to see the picture - simply him sitting improperly (as he always does) in a desk with his head buried in his hands. He thinks it’s from earlier that week in English when he’d been texting Keith across the room and then blushed really hard. You know, the usual. 

_ Wow! 11 roses? That was probably a lot of running, why don’t you come and get a snack? _

Lance laughs in excitement and takes off. Out of the paint room, then out fo the stage area and into the hall - 11 roses in his left hand, 11 drawings in his right - and looks around. 

When he sees him - over by the concessions stand - his heart skips a beat. He looks stunning, his hair pulled to a ponytail, a red button up that compliments his features, and a single red rose clutched nervously in his hands.

“Keith!” He calls out and sees the other boy look up just in time to see Lance barreling towards him before said boy runs right into him and squeezes him in a tight hug, nearly in tears. “I can’t believe it was you.” The tall boy chokes out, “It was always you. Wasn’t it? Even Valentines day?”

Keith pushes him back and smiles. “Of course it is Lance. I’ve been crazy about you since the first day I saw you.”

Lance pulls him back into a hug so tight he can hardly breathe.

“Wait!” Keith pushes him back again and looks down at the now fairly squashed rose. “You didn’t finish your scavenger hunt!”

Lance looks at him in question, “I thought the goal was to find you?”

“Well, it was, but it was so I could ask you a question.” He backs up another step and holds out the squashed rose. “Lance McClain. Will you go out with me?”

Lance feels a giant grin break out across his face. “Keith. You freaking dimwit. Of course I will. I’m crazy about you too.”

“Really?”

“Yes really!” Both boys giggle and blush to the tips of their ears, looking down to the ground for a moment then hugging again before they’re suddenly pushed apart by Pidge. 

“Alright, you two.” They say, “I’m very happy for you both, but Lance your family is over there waiting for you.”

Lance blushes even deeper and steps back, looking to the floor, holding onto Keiths hands best he can. “Will you wait a while?”

“Of course I will,” Keith says, equally shy and blushy, staring at their hands. “Do you want me to hold your drawings and roses?”

Lance holds out the pictures but clutches the roses to his chest. “Take the pictures, I don’t want them to get ruined, but I want the roses in my pictures.”

Keith smiles and takes the pictures, then passes over the last rose even though it droops a bit. Lance turns to leave, but in a sudden burst of bravery, he turns back and plants a kiss on Keith’s cheek, then runs off to find his family before the other boy can react. 

Keith visibly melts and places a hand on his cheek before moving away to lean against a wall that’s out of the way of the constant flow of people.

For the next seemingly infinite amount of time, Lance takes picture after picture. First with his family and those that came to support him, and then with other kids from the cast and some random people from the audience. 

Eventually, though, most of the audience has left and the kids can file back into the dressing rooms. Lance is the last one out in the hall, having had the most picture requests, and looks around for Keith. He waves at the boy before ducking backstage, and the second he’s through the door he is mobbed by just about everyone in his class as they ask him question after question that he can’t even hear because they’re all talking over each other. 

“Oh my God!” He cries out, “Hush! One at a time!”

Nyma starts, “So. Nice roses.”

Lance blushes again, “They’re from Keith...”

Then Luke says, “Personally I liked the drawings.”

Annie smiles, “See, I liked your boy.”

Lance can honestly say he’s never blushed so hard. “He's not my boy.” He says weakly, “He was just asking me out…” He shuffles his feet.

A chorus of ‘awes’ follow before Rachel steps forward and lightly punches him on the shoulder. “He did  _ all  _ that just to ask you out?” She whistles. “He has it bad for you boy! Not that I blame him…” She finishes with a wink.

“Ok, ok. I promise I’ll tell you all more... but tomorrow...  when we’re getting ready. He’s waiting for me right now.”

Right at that moment, some poor little girl steps out of their dressing room - now dressed in warmups rather than a costume - to see a group of teenagers screeching and pulling Lance into a hug. She looks at them with wide eyes and then just backs away into the safety of the little girls dressing room. 

“Guys!” He cries out, “You scared the children!”

They all laugh and together they step into their respective dressing rooms where the younger teens were already nearly changed. Lance changes as quickly as he can - which is ridiculously fast from years of quick dance changes - and picks up his bag and roses before waving goodbye to the rest of the cast.

He steps into the nearly empty hallway - now only containing a few parents and Keith. He walks over to the boy.

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“You ready to go?” Lance says and reaches out a hand. He’d already sent his family home - saying they needed to get the kids into bed before too late, and even though his mom had seen right through him with a raised eyebrow she’d left after pictures. 

Keith nods and takes his hand. “Want to go… get ice cream or something? It’s not the first date I had planned, but I’d still love to go.”

“Oh my God Keith! You already planned our first date?”

Keith blushes deeply - again. “Not… exactly. Kind of. I mean….”

Lance pulls on his hand, causing the other boy to take a step towards him. “Relax. That makes me happy. And yes, I’d love to go get ice cream with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aweeee the story is so close to wrapping up (:
> 
> also... the periods are different sizes when I copy and paste them from my google dock rather than type them in here...
> 
> [hey look my tumblr](https://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/)


	14. Chapter 14

“Hi, mama.” Lace greets as he steps into the car after the outreach program.

She smiles at him, “How’d it go?”

“It was great! The kids really loved the show, and we took a lot of pictures after. Surprisingly all the kids loved the fact that I was on pointe… one boy actually hugged me with tears in his eyes and thanked me for showing that a boy can dance however they want.” He smiles at the memory, he had been so happy he made the kid take a selfie with him.

“That’s great Lance! I’m glad he has you to look up to.” Lance rubs a hand on the back of his neck and blushes. “Oh!" His mom continues, "The makeup wipes are in my purse, if you want them.”

He thinks for a moment before replying. “Actually, I think I’ll leave it on today. That's what the little boy would want.”

His mom smiles and pats his cheek. “I’m proud of you Lance.” She says and then they fall into a comfortable silence the rest of the way to school.

When they get there he leans over and kisses her on the cheek before grabbing his backpack and sliding out of the car. He pulls out his phone to check the time and realizes there are just over 10 minutes of lunch left. He smiles. That means he can see Keith - so long as he can find him - for the first time since ice cream Friday night.

He walks into the school and waves at a couple of people as he makes his way to the commons. It takes him all of two seconds to spot Keith…

Along with Pidge (who got to leave outreach an hour earlier than Lance right when the show finished) desperately trying to grab Pidge’s drone out of the air.

What even _are_ his friends. He shakes his head at their antics but can’t help the smile that grows on his face.

He’s about to call out when he realizes Keith’s back is to him, so when Pidge makes eye contact and is about to greet him - and probably ask for help - he holds a finger to his lips.

He takes the last few steps and wraps his arms around Keith's waist and kisses him on the neck. The other boy nearly jumps out of his skin and makes a squeak of surprise, twisting around to find the culprit. When he sees it’s Lance he smiles and hugs him back.

Pidge makes a gagging sound that causes the two boys to blush and pull apart. Pidge huffs and says, “Lance. I’m going to lose my drone so get your a… butt up here and help me.”

He laughs in reply and drops his backpack before climbing up on the table. Then he just reaches up and grabs the drone, only having to raise up on his toes to reach it. “You guys are so small. Seriously.” Then he hands it to Pidge and jumps off the table.

Keith snorts. “Well, at least I didn’t stand on the table. You know. Where we _eat._ ” He pauses, “Speaking of which, Pidge and I just finished eating before they launched the drone, but did you eat?”

“Oh…” Lance pauses, not wanting to worry him but also not wanting to lie. “No.” He finally answers. “I didn’t really have much time.”

Keith shuffles his feet and looks at the floor. “I was worried you might forget. So. Uh. I packed an extra lunch this morning.”

Now it’s Lance’s turn to blush. “Keith! You’re the freaking cutest!” He giggles before taking the other boys hand. “Thanks.”

Keith nods and bends down - refusing to let go of Lance’s hand - and pulls the paper bag out of his open backpack. “It’s not the greatest, we need to go to the store again, but it’s what we had.”

“Thanks, Keith. Really.”

They sit down together and Lance opens the lunch bag to see an apple, and uncrustables brand pre-wrapped pb&j, and a baggie of Oreos.

He eats the first two quickly but pauses at the Oreos… he really tries to avoid sugar, and had already broken his rule for ice cream a couple of days ago.

“Hey, Keith?” He says awkwardly, the other boy hums in reply as he continues his attempt at playing some game or another with his left hand (his right occupied by holding Lance’s that he refuses to drop. Too cute.) “Nothing, sorry.” He smiles and kisses the other boy on the cheek, reveling in the blush, and then slides the Oreos across the table to Pidge.

Then he sits there, just silently looking at Keith. The line of his jaw - partially obscured by hair. The light dusting of pink on his pale cheeks. The difference in their skin tones where their hands rest together on the bench between them. He sighs happily and smiles at the boy when he turns to him.

“Oh!” Keith says as he clicks off his phone. “So…. first of all our project is going to take forever. Are you good to come over basically every day after school this week and next to work on it?”

Lance nods. “Yeah, that should work. I’ll bring money tomorrow so we can buy the stuff before heading to your place.”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me. Did he set a price limit or anything?”

“I’m sure he did but I honestly don’t remember. We’ll check in class.”

“K cool. Now… secondly. Are you free like… all day Saturday?”

“Yeah, I should be. Why?”

“Um… I was hoping we could have our first official date?”

“YES! 100 times yes!” Lance laughs out.

“Ok cool. I’ll check the times of a couple things and let you know when I’ll pick you up.”

The bell rings then and the two walk off to class hand in hand.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Two hours later the whole group is back in the commons. Pidge and Hunk are talking about some tech thing or another, Allura is writing a paper for some class, and Keith is sketching while Lance holds his other hand and leans on his shoulder.

“Hey, Keith?” Lance says, once again receiving a hum in reply, “I personally think this is a better way to hang out than us both awkwardly trying to avoid our feelings.”

Keith chokes in an attempt to hold back his laughter but gives up when Lance bursts out laughing himself.

Pidge just shakes their head at their antics.

“What’s so funny?” Shiro says as he walks up behind them.

Allura smiles, not looking up. “Just the two dorks. Admitting how they painfully danced around each other for months.”

Shiro snorts, “Tell me about it. Every other sentence out of Keith's mouth was about Lance.”

“Shiro!” Keith cries out at the same time Lance cries “Keith!”

Keith blushes a deep red, but can’t help the smile that spreads on his face as Lance kisses his cheek again.

Pidge glances at their phone when it buzzes and then says. “Oh. Hunk, Lance. We gotta go. Studio dinner before the show and we gotta be all the way ready.”

Lance huffs and squeezes Keith's hand as the other two stand up. “See you tomorrow, babe.” He says, planting another quick kiss on his cheek. The three are gone before Keith can even recover from his shock.

“He called me babe.” He says, voice full of awe and a soft smile on his face.

Lance jumps into the passenger seat of Hunks car a huge smile still on his face. “You guys wanna know something funny?” He asks.

Hunk starts the car “Sure.”

“Keith!” Lance laughs out. “He has such a bad boy vibe with the bracelets, long hair, leather jacket, motorcycle, and everything. But he’s just so soft! He loves sketching, blushes at every little thing, and just has the sweetest freaking smile.”

Pidge gags in the backseat, “Ugh. I thought you guys were mushy before. This is just disgusting. What did I help create.”

Lance just chuckles and pulls out his phone.

_keithy keith keith <3 _

 

_you called me babe_

 

Lance sucks in a breath and bites his lip.

_is that ok?_

 

_more than ok… babe <3 _

 

Lance blushes as they pull into Pidges driveway. They all duck out of the car and Hunk pulls a bag from the backseat.

 

_time to go help Pidgey and Hunk get emo(; talk to you later_

 

_first of all, dont you have to get ready too? secondly cant wait (:_

 

 

* * *

 

 

(Tuesday afternoon)

 

“Lance!” Keith laughs out, “ Home Depot hates us!”

“I didn’t even do anything!” Lance calls back indignantly.

“Ok, then why exactly did you have to be escorted out? Like seriously. I left you alone for five minutes.”

“I didn’t _mean_ to knock over the entire display… and the one next to it…”

“Oh my God Lance.” Keith can’t help but laugh again. “Either way we now have to finish buying supplies over facetime. aka me. by myself.” He looks away from the phone and towards the shelves when he hears a clatter through his headphones. “Lance. Babe. Did you just drop your phone?”

“...no.”

“Then what was that clatter?”

He hears Lance huff and continues his trek through the store. Truth be told he thinks they have everything they need, hopefully, but still have a small amount of the budget left. so Keith figured he’d walk around for a minute. He had just passed the paint aisle when Lance screeched, hurting his ears.

“Keith! Go back go back go back!”

“Lance… why?”

“We should get paint! We have everything else!”

Keith sighs and backs up into the aisle. “Ok fine. What color?”

“Wait really? Yes! And purple. It has to be purple.”

“Why purple?” Keith laughs and looks down at his phone to see Lance grinning into the camera.

“It's our color, Keith! Duh!”

“What in the world do you mean?”

“Our color. Seriously. You wear red all the time and like half the crap you own is red. Including your bike. I wear blue all the time and own more blue than is probably good for my health.”

Keith smiles, still looking at him. “Ok. Fine. I’ll get purple.”

“Yes! Thanks, baby!”

Keith chuckles, “God you’re such a dork.”

“Don’t you know it! Ok, are you going to check out now?”

“Yeah?”

“How long is the line?”

“There isn’t really one? Why?”

“OK IM GONNA GO ILL SEE YOU IN A MINUTE!”

The phone clicks off and looks Keith looks at it in confusion for a moment before shaking his head and tucking it into his pocket as he steps up to the register.

Moments later he’s walking up to the car (Shiro’s - he let the boys borrow it to get supplies). Lance is casually leaning against the side. Almost too casually.

“Hey, babe…” Keith greets as he goes to open the trunk.

“Hi!” Lance says. Then the trunk opens and Keith gets a face full of glitter and Lance laughs so hard he snorts. “I managed to convince them to let me buy my glitter cannon before they sent me outside!”

Keith blows out a breath - causing some of the glitter to blow off - and tosses the bags into the trunk.

Then he turns and runs at Lance. “You jerk!” He screeches as he scoops him up over his shoulder.

Lance lets out a screech of his own. “Keith! Let me down!”

Instead, Keith reaches into the trunk and pulls a water bottle out of the case before shutting the trunk.

“Keith! Don’t you dare!” Lance squirms and tries to get free but the other boy just holds him tighter. “Keith! Babe! Baby! I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!”

Keith just tips him off his shoulder onto the grass and puts a knee on his chest to hold him down and begins to unscrew the lid of the bottle.

“Babe! No! God! Babe!” Lance keeps begging as he tries to reach the bottle even as he’s pinned. Then he gets a face full of water and splutters for a moment before pouting.

It’s Keith's turn to laugh and he falls off Lance to lay next to him. Then they both just sit and laugh for a moment before Lance stands up and reaches down to pull Keith to his feet as well.

“Come on babe. We got a bridge to make.” He says with an easy smile.

As Keith follows the other boy back to the car he can feel his heart fluttering in his chest. How in the world did he get so lucky?

As Lance goes to open his car door Keith hugs him from behind and mumbles into his shoulder. “You’re amazing. You know that right?”

Lance splutters again and turns around. “Babe! You can’t just say things like that!”

“Why not?”

“Cause you’ll stop my poor gay heart from beating!”

Keith chuckles and squeezes him one last time before running around to the other side of the car and ducking in.

His phone buzzes with a text from Pidge.

 

**_You best be grateful. I had to pull so many strings to get these tickets._ **

 

_You got them? Yay!_

 

**_Yep. saturday. be there at 10:30 to pick them up._ **

 

He smiles and looks over to Lance who is dutifully keeping his eyes on the road as he drives. “Hey baby?” he says

“Yeah?”

“Be ready at 10 on Saturday. Yeah?”

Lance smiles. “I’ll always be ready for you.”

Keith blushes and smiles too. “Oh, and take a left here.”

Lance follows his directions all the way back to his and Shiro’s place, both boys smiling the whole way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! This fic is almost done! 
> 
> so, I have a couple of questions.   
> 1\. Would you rather see another Klance fic or a Drarry fic (yeah... I got dragged into the Drarry pit)   
> 2\. Would you rather (for either one) to see cannon divergence or AU? (feel free to prompt me!)   
> 3\. Wanna follow [me on tumblr](https://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Love you all and thanks for reading!


	15. Chapter 15

“Mom!” Lance calls down from his room, “Please help! I don’t know what to wear and Keith won’t tell me where we’re going and I don’t know what to do!”

He hears his brother laugh and then footsteps coming up the stairs. It’s already 9:45 and Lance has just gotten out of the shower. He hasn’t eaten. Or done his hair. Or picked a freaking outfit. 

“Lance, calm down. You’ll be fine.”

Lance whips around, “You’re not mom.” He says. 

“No. I’m not. But she’s busy. So you get the help of your loving brother.”

“Ok ok! Then get over here and help me.” 

Together, the two quickly look through the closet. 

“How 'bout this?” His brother asks, holding up a white t-shirt and his light wash denim jacket with the pins and patches. 

“What if I have to be dressed up though?”

“Lance. If you had to be dressed up don’t you think he would’ve at least said that?”

Lance shrugs and his brother shoves the two items into his hands. “These, with the jacket rolled to the elbows. Your black ripped jeans and blue vans. And I’ll let you borrow my leather bracelet.”

“You’re the best!” Lance gasps and then he’s grabbing all the items.

As he takes off his robe and starts getting dressed his brother leaves to get the bracelet and comes back in as Lance is throwing on his jacket. 

“Thanks again, bro!” He says and hugs him quickly before running into the bathroom again to do his hair. Then he’s running downstairs to eat a piece of toast, then back up to brush his teeth and put on deodorant and a tiny bit of cologne. 

The doorbell rings as he’s on his way back downstairs to put on his shoes. 

“Keith!” He hears his mom say, “How are you?”

Yeah. This won’t be good. He slides his shoes on, not bothering to untie them from where he’d left them tied last time. 

“Hi, mom! Bye, mom!” He says as he slides past her. “Got to be on time and all! Love you!” Then he grabs Keith's arm and drags him off the porch as he awkwardly waves. 

“Be good boys!” His mom calls after them and by this point, Lance is blushing furiously. 

Keith chuckles as the door closes and tugs his arm back. “Do I not get a hello?”

Lance turns back and smiles at him. “Hi, baby.” He says before planting a kiss on his cheek. “Sorry. Just a little bit if a stressful morning.”

Keith chuckles and then takes his turn pulling Lance. As soon as Lance sees what's in store he freezes. 

“We’re taking your bike?!?!”

Keith smiles and lets go of the other boy, stepping forward and picking up his spare helmet. “Yep!” He says and then pushes it down over the other boys head and buckles the strap underneath as the boy remains frozen, though his face is now hidden from sight. “And do me a favor, roll down your sleeves. You can roll them back up when we get there.”

Keith turns back to the bike and picks up his black leather jacket from the seat and swings it on. He’s wearing that, a white t-shirt with the NASA logo - which says “Houston has so many problems” instead of “NASA” - and his own pair of black ripped jeans. Along with his own leather bracelets, his docs, and a simple silver charm on a thin black cord around his neck. He pops on his own helmet too, of course. 

“You ready?” He asks, voice now muffled by the helmet. 

Lance nods mutely and Keith swings a leg over the bike before reaching out a hand to the other boy, who takes it quickly. 

Keith pulls him forward a step. “Now, swing a leg over and sit right up against my back. Wrap your arms around my middle and hold on tight.”

Lance does as he said and Keith see’s his hands slightly shaking. He would be worried, but he’d talked to Pidge and Lance has wanted to ride his bike since the day he first saw it, so even though he's nervous, Keith knows he wants to ride.

He turns on the motor and gently takes them to the edge of the neighborhood then calls, “Here we go!” and flies onto the main road. 

Lance squeaks and tightens his arms around Keith who just smiles. 

Slowly throughout the ride Lance relaxes, but doesn't loosen his hold, just lets out a ‘whoop’ of excitement here and there. Then he’s pulling into the parking lot and killing the engine. 

Then they just sit there. Keith waits a minute before, “Lance. Babe. You gotta get off first.”

“Oh. Right.” Comes the muffled reply, and then the pressure from his back disappears and as soon as he slides off himself he turns to see Lance awkwardly standing with his legs out and slightly squatting and his hands out to the his sides. “I forgot how to stand.” 

Once again Keith bursts out laughing. He slides his helmet off his head and sets it on the seat, then turns and takes Lance’s off his head. He then straps both of them to the bike and locks them on before turning back to his wobbly boyfriend. 

“Babe, you good?” 

“Yep. One second.”

Keith reaches out and takes his hands, pulling him forward and into a hug. Keith chuckles when he feels the other boy take a shaky breath. 

“Yep. I’m good now. Is my hair a mess?”

“I mean a little, but in a good way. Here.”

Keith pushes him back and runs his fingers through the short brown strands. “There. Styled but messy.” Then he reaches down and quickly rolls each if the sleeves and kisses each hand. “There. Perfect.”

He looks up to see Lance as red as a tomato. “Keith.” He wines. “I thought you were supposed to be a bad boy.”

“I am. Just not to you.” 

Then he takes the boys hand and leads him toward the building. Luckily, the other boy doesn’t take his eyes off him and still doesn't recognize where they are, but best not to risk it. He tugs his hand again and turns him around. 

“Ok babe. If you aren’t comfortable let me know, but I want it to be a surprise so…” He ducks behind him and stands on his toes to cover his eyes. “Ok. Now turn back around toward the building. Yep. Just like That.” And so begins a slow treck towards the building. It takes them a minute to open the door but finally, they get inside. 

“Ok. Now. Put your hands over mine and I’m going to go get something.” 

Lance slowly reaches up and they swap hands, “Don’t be gone long, babe.”

“I won’t be.”

He slips away and quickly looks around, then decides even though it's not technically ‘open’ today, the front desk is his best bet, so he steps up and rings the bell. A moment later a girl with long blonde hair and a nametag the reads ‘Romelle’ steps out and up to the desk and says “Hello and welcome how can I help you?”

“Um. Hi. My name is Keith? My friend hooked me up with two tickets?”

Romelle looks to the computer and clicks a few buttons before smiling. “Yep! Here you are! I just need to stamp your hands.”

Keith holds out his and then gestures at Lance. “Can you bring the stamp over there and stamp his hand without him taking them down?”

Romelle laughs but walks around the desk. 

“Oh! And where would be the best place to surprise him?” 

“Down the hall and take your first right, it’s where all the tours will start in the future.”

Keith smiles as they step up to Lance. “Thanks.”

“Anytime!” She replies and stamps Lance’s hand. “Have fun!”

Keith steps behind Lance and guides him down the hall. 

“Ok.” He says, “So, technically this place is brand new, and doesn’t open until next week -  _ keep your hands on your eyes  _ \- but with Pidges help I was able to get exclusive tickets for today. They’re only letting three groups in and we’re the first ones.” He guides Lance through the first door on the right and smiles. It's perfect. 

The door clicks shut behind them and Keith slides around the other boy and stands in front of him. 

“Ok, you can take your hands down now, and Welcome, to the brand new Balmera Planetarium.”

Lance gasps and drops his hands. “Holy - what - Keith! Its beautiful! It’s amazing! How did you even manage!”

Keith sighs. “I’m glad you like it. Now come on, let's explore.” 

Lance smiles and takes his hand, then together they explore the breathtaking displays. 

They wonder for a while before they make it to the moon room, and one of the displays shows the moon landing. 

“I bet you 10 bucks this is actually where they filmed it.” Keith says.

Lance stops and drags him to a bench. “Babe. Please tell me you don’t actually think the moon landing was faked.”

“I’m just saying, there’s no way to know for sure. Our government isn’t exactly trustworthy.”

“I mean, yeah but. The moon landing. It wasn’t faked.”

“Explain the flag then! It waves! There isn’t air in space.”

“They used starch obviously! It doesn’t wave, it just chills. Like the one in the display.”

“Exactly! Like the one in the display! You just proved my point. They probably filmed it either in this very display or one like it!”

Lance stares at him and splutters, trying desperately to come up with a proper argument. 

“Babe.” Keith says, “I’m just pulling your leg. The moon landing was as real as Mothman.” Then he stands up on drags a very confused Lance with him. Two hours later they’ve explored nearly everything and Lance’s stomach rumbles loudly. 

Keith laughs. “Let’s go. We can get lunch.” 

Together they walk out and wave goodbye to Romelle on their way out the door as she greets the next guests. 

Keith gets Lance back on the bike and they quickly make their way to a nearby cafe and inside where Lance immediately gasps. 

“They have so much tea!”

Keith laughs. “Definitely get tea, but get food too. Their sandwiches are all good.”

Lance smiles and reaches into his pocket before Keith grabs his hand and stops the movement. “Nope.” Keith says, “My treat. I planned the date.” Lance pouts at him. “I’ll let you pay next time. Ok?”

“Fine.” Lance sighs. 

He ends up getting an iced coffee and a pulled pork sandwich, while Lance gets Lemon tea and grilled cheese. Lance drags them over to a table by the window and they sit down together, holding hands across the table - which Lance can’t help but think is awfully cliche. 

“Ok.” He starts, “Tell me, Keith. Would you rather get 100 paper cuts and take a bath in lemon juice, or do 3 straight hours of jumping jacks with no breaks.”

Keith slowly swallows his sandwich and simply says, “What?”

“100 paper cuts and a bath in lemon juice, or 3 non-stop hours of jumping jacks?” Lance states again and takes a sip of his tea.

“Ok…” Keith pauses to think, taking another bite of his sandwich, then says, “Honestly? Probably the paper cuts.”

Lance laughs and takes a bite of his own. “Ok. Your turn now. Ask me one.”

“Hmm. Let me think… oh, I got it! Super sensitive taste or hearing?”

“Hearing. Definitely. Then I could easily hear all the subtle music cues Coran tries to get us to hear…”

“Who’s Coran?”

“Only the best studio owner in the entire world! He was the orange-haired man in the show. He’s taught me everything I know.”

Keith smiles at the fondness in his voice. “Your turn now, right?”

“Yep. Um… Would you rather be unable to see colors or have a constant ringing in your ears?”

And so the game continues, each boy learning odd facts about the other that they’d never have thought to ask, but that they are oh so glad to know. Before they know it the clock shows three o’clock.

“Oh boy.” Keith says, “I promised Shiro I’d be home to help him in like 10 minutes. We live 20 minutes away from here and I still have to drop you off.”

Both boys laugh again and they quickly get to their feet. Keith leads them outside and they put on their helmets again before sliding onto the bike and flying out of the parking lot, reveling in the adrenalin brought on both by the speed of the bike and their proximity to each other. 

All too soon Keith pulls the bike into Lance’s driveway and the two have to dismount and take off their helmets to have one last proper conversation. 

“I had a lot of fun with you today babe.” Lance says, “This one's gonna be hard to top. The scavenger hunt too. You’re really setting the bar high.”

Keith smiles, “Of course I am. You deserve only the best, and I’m gonna make sure you get it.”

“Awe! Babe! Have I told you yet today that you’re honestly adorable?”

Keith lets his eyes drop to the ground, suddenly shy again.

“Ok. Well, as much as I love being with you… don’t you have a brother waiting on you?”

Keith jumps into action and takes Lance’s helmet from him to strap it to the back of the bike. He’s about to pop his own back on his head when Lance stops him by grabbing him on either side of his face and planting a kiss right in the middle of his forehead. Keith smiles again and leans up to kiss his cheek before finally popping the helmet on his head. 

“Bye, babe! See you Monday!” And then he’s speeding out of the driveway and the neighborhood as Lance waves from the driveway.

As soon as he’s gone from sight he sends a text to Pidge.

 

_ I swear to god Pidge, you have to help me plan a date at least that good. _

 

He gets the feeling that’s how it’s going to go for a long time to come - amazing dates with the most amazing boy in the universe, each time better than the last.

They just have to finish the quarter and their bridge first...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> such cute boys once again making me realize just how single i am...
> 
> [give me a follow?](https://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/)


	16. Chapter 16

Keith smiles as he looks around the classroom to see all the different bridges people had come up with. There are big ones, small ones, ones he’s pretty sure don’t fit in the budget yet still look moments from collapsing.

Then he looks at their bridge… pretty sturdy. Decently sized. Purple and glittery….

He chuckles to himself a bit before he’s suddenly having the air squeezed from his lungs.

“Hi, babe.” He gasps.

“Ah man. How’d you know it was me?” Lance replies.

“Cause literally no one else hugs me in public.”

Lance smiles yet again and then slides onto the table to sit next to the bridge, causing Keith to smile.

“Why in the world do you always sit on the desk?”

“Why do you always sit in chairs?”

“Because chairs are meant to be sat on?”

“Keith, darling, a chair is just a surface that _can_ be sat upon, therefore any surface is a chair if you try hard enough.”

Keith rolls his eyes but reaches up to take Lance’s hand in his own. “Whatever you say, babe.”

Then the bell rings and it’s time for the start of class.

Mr. Arnold walks around to each bridge and compares them to the receipts they were required to bring. He automatically disqualifies a few, saying that they would still get an 80% for participating, but that they need to learn to keep things in budget so they’re fair. Then he grabs a cart of weights and has everyone line their bridge up on a single row of desks.

He walks down the row and places one 10 pound weight on each of the bridges, only one dropping (they’ll get a 90%). Then he goes back the other way and does another 10. All the bridges stay and the kids cheer knowing they’ve all go 100% no matter what happens.

Mr. Arnold keeps going up and down the rows adding 10 pounds at a time. Every time he passes the two boys they squeeze their intertwined hands and suck in a nervous breath. They hadn’t ever tested the bridge because they were nervous about breaking it and not having time to fix it before they needed it in class.

They watch bridge after bridge drop until there's only two left standing - their own and the two robotics kids who had refused to take a picture with Keith the first day of the project.

Mr. Arnold places another 10 pounds on each of their bridges and then shrugs. “There aren’t any more weights. I didn’t expect any of you to be able to hold that much weight, I probably should’ve planned better.

Keith thinks for a moment before… “Sir?” He says, “How much weight is on there right now?”

Mr. Arnold quickly counts the weights. “I’d say about 130 pounds each. Why?”

Keith turns to Lance, “Don’t you weigh like 140?”

“About, yeah. Why?” They just stare at each other for a moment before he gets it “Oh! You want me to be the weight.”

“I mean… I don’t see a problem with it.” Mr. Arnold says, then he looks at the robotics kids.

“I’m about 120.” One of them says, “I could get on at the same time and hold two weights.”

Mr. Arnold nods. “Ok. Each team take the weights off your bridges, and when you’re ready the two of you stand on the desks. And partners? You stand behind them ready to catch them if the bridges break.”

Both teams take a breath and then quickly remove the weights one at a time. Two minutes later both bridges are empty, and now comes the hard part.

Keith steps behind Lance and picks him up to sit on the desk. Lance then takes his hand and stands. The girl is now standing on the desk as well, weights in her hands. They nod at each other, and then step onto the bridges…

The robotics kids bends just a bit, but they both hold. After that, they slowly add weights to the bridges. They make it three more each before one snaps.

The girl gasps as she falls into her partners arms. Then the class applauds as Keith and Lance smile at each other. Keith takes the weights from his hands and puts them on the desk before turning back to Lance.

“We did it!” He says excitedly.

“That we did!” Lance replies, “Now get me down. Please”

Keith reaches up and grabs him by the hips and helps him hop down, and the in a spur of bravery pulls him close and kisses him full on the lips.

The class cheers louder and a couple of kids wolf whistle as the boys quickly pull apart, bright red but smiling the biggest smiles.

“I can’t believe you just did that!” Lance gasps.

“Honestly, neither can I.”

 

* * *

 

Later that week the group, in order to celebrate the start of summer, meet at Coran's house for a pool party. Having a friend with a rich uncle has its benefits.

Allura and Pidge sit on the edge of the pool - Pidge in green swim trunks and a black swim shirt, Allura in a pink bikini - legs dangling into the water. Hunk stands in the small outdoor kitchen area and sets up lunch, in yellow swim trunks a black swim shirt of his own.

Keith sits on the stairs, most of the way into the water, wearing red swim trunks and watching Lance - who wears blue, of course - swim around excitedly.

Said boy suddenly rockets towards him and uses his knees to propel himself upward and plant a kiss on his lips.

Keith smiles when Lance leans back, still resting on his knees.

“Come swim with me, babe!” Lance says with a smile. “Please?”

Keith chuckles and pushes Lance off his knees. He’s about to follow when Hunk calls out that the food is ready.

Lance surfaces again and pouts when he sees Keith leaving the pool. Keith just smiles and says, “Babe, lunch is ready. We can swim after.”

Then Lance quickly follows him out of the pool and the group sits in the grass on their towels, eating watermelon, chips, and hot dogs with smiles on their faces. Lance starts up another game of would you rather, getting the whole group laughing and playing along. He lays down in Keith’s lap, content with how his life is going and the friends he has. He feels the warmth of the sun through his entire body and eventually dozes off.

Keith looks down at his sleeping boyfriend and smiles, it’s cute, but like… who would he be if he just let him sleep?

He winks at Pidge ad shifts himself around to pick Lance up bridal style. He grunts in his sleep but doesn’t wake up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Hunk says, “You saw him earlier his basically a fish. He will beat you once he hits the water.”

“Not if I don’t touch the water though,” Keith says as he walks up to the edge of the pool.

“Whatever you say, Keith…” Pidge says.

Keith leans over and kisses Lance on the neck. “Hey baby, wake up.” Lance groans and shifts his weight, but as soon as his eyes flutter open Keith launches him into the water… or tries to.

He screeches as Lance - god knows how - manages to grab him and drag him into the water as well. He pushes to the surface for air and barely gasps in a breath before Lance pulls him back under by the hips and smiles at him.

Then their lips connect, and even though it’s a sloppy kiss with both the water and the grins on their faces, it’s just as amazing as the rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks! See you in the next fic! <3
> 
> [Hey look. My tumblr.](https://authentic-and-confused.tumblr.com/) you can use this to send me prompts and requests, as well as keep up with my other writing. its pretty great.
> 
> also! Yes the bridge scene is highly influenced by the fic "Costumed Identities" its a good one and you should give it a read!


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